No Place Like Home; Kansas City's East Side
by Rachael Jane
The urban East Side of Kansas City, Missouri is a place to grow up quickly and learn the street life. The school systems have failed repeatedly despite the massive amounts of money that were once poured into them. Historically, the East Side was a site of the Porter Slave Plantation in the 1830's, then a home to the richest man in Kansas City, Walt Disney's first theater was located on Troost, in the 1950's, banks practiced redlining that hastened the economic decline. It is now an area racially and socio-economically divided from the rest of the city. The people of Kansas City's East Side are the worst hit by the current economy.
Preschoolers play outside at Operation Breakthrough. Being one of the largest child daycare centers in the state of Missouri, it was established to help children living in poverty gain access to education, clothing and medical care. Operation Breakthrough has a waiting list of approximately 1300 children and enrollment priority is given to the homeless. The waiting list more than doubled in the last two years.