A champion of educational opportunities for Kansas City’s Latino youth, John Kearney talks with “The Pinnacle Pod” about his journey from teacher to executive director of the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund (HDF). John is dedicated to helping students and their families achieve higher education goals through engaging fundraising campaigns that strengthen community ties. This year the HDF awarded more than a million dollars to college-bound students. The Pinnacle Pod is hosted by Maurice Watson.

Transcript

Maurice Watson:

Welcome to “The Pinnacle Pod”, the voice of The Pinnacle Prize, an annual award recognizing passionate people who are driving positive change in the very fabric of Kansas City. I’m Maurice Watson, your host, on this conversational journey to meet dynamic emerging leaders. Each month, we’ll delve into tales of resilience, learn from innovative approaches, and be inspired by the determination of these remarkable individuals. We’re joined today by John Kearney, executive director of the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund, or HDF for short. John attended University of Kansas’ Urban Education Program and then for decades served as a teacher and advisor to a student population of mostly Hispanic and Latino learners in Kansas City. During his time at Guadalupe Center’s High School, he became passionate about supporting students and families in their educational aspirations and career goals, with an emphasis on first generation and undocumented students. While at Guadalupe Centers, John also co-founded The Pell Project, an organization that award scholarships to undocumented students equivalent to the US Pell Grant. Since its start, The Pell Project now gives $150,000 annually. John started with HDF working in development and serving on the board of directors. Now as the executive director, he works to advance HDF’s mission to improve the quality of life of Latino families in Greater Kansas City by engaging the Latino community in philanthropy to build stronger communities through grant making and scholarship support. John, welcome to The Pinnacle Pod. Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and how you came to work with the Latinx student community?

John Kearney:

Well, thank you Maurice, for having me. A little bit about my background. I grew up in seven different states. Oftentimes people would ask like, oh, is your dad in the military? But he actually worked for John Deere his entire career and just involved a lot of moves and ended up in Overland Park, Kansas in the middle of my sophomore year of high school. I attended the University of Kansas after, where I eventually ended up studying education in the Urban Education program, was placed in KCK at Argentine High School, and that’s where I began my career as a history teacher. And that’s really how I got acquainted with the Latino community of Kansas City. Was, was beginning my educational career at, at JC Harmon High School, and then later at Alta Vista Charter High School in Kansas City, Missouri.

Maurice Watson:

So back when you were a teacher, you and a colleague created The Pell Project. For those who don’t know, what does The Pell Project provide and what led you to your decision to take action for the undocumented population?

John Kearney:

So, when I began my career at Alta Vista Charter High School, we were serving about 98% Latino students, and about 50% of our students were undocumented. And I went from being a history teacher and got into the college advising space as a junior and senior seminar teacher. And that’s really when I got to know a lot of the struggles and barriers that our undocumented students and families face, especially when it came to access to college. And so a colleague of, and good friend of mine, a math teacher, Connor Nowalk, we would find ourselves like many teachers on Fridays going to happy hours and, and talking about the week and oftentimes the challenges and struggles from the week. And we would always get back to this conversation about the inequity and how unfair it was that we would teach a classroom of students, half of whom everybody would apply to college in the fall, and everybody would be excited about going to college. And then in the springtime, uh, the hard reality would, would set in and for about half of our students who were undocumented, they didn’t have the financial aid resources to then go on to college. And so after enough of those happy hours and enough of those sessions of us complaining about it, we decided to, to do something. And so we decided we would start our own 501c3 scholarship program called The Pell Project, the idea being that we would fundraise scholarships equivalent to the US Federal Pell Grant, which undocumented students are ineligible to receive in the United States.

Maurice Watson:

So, tell us a little bit more about the Hispanic Development Fund and its work and the connection between the Hispanic Development Fund and The Pell Project, if any.

John Kearney:

Yes. So I was at Alta Vista, and that’s when I really, you know, got to know and, and love working with the Latino community here in Kansas City. The Pell Project was kind of the next step for me and through my work at Alta Vista, especially in the college advising space, that’s how I got to know HDF and the HDF Scholarship program. So many of our students would apply and receive the scholarship, and I got to see firsthand the impact it had on them. Shortly after I was invited to volunteer with HDF and got to know the organization and leaders on a deeper level, was later asked to become a board member. And then a few years after that saw an opportunity to join the HDF team full-time and specifically increase our fundraising efforts around the HDF scholarship program. And now our, our fastest growing and largest program, our HDF Family College Prep program.

Maurice Watson:

The achievement that HDF has reached in giving more than $1 million in scholarships last year is quite impressive. So, tell us about that program and what other services are offered.

John Kearney:

Yes, thank you. That’s a story I love to tell, and I think it’s a story that not only should HDF and our board members and staff tell, but I, I think it’s a celebration for Kansas City. The HDF scholarship. I’ll, I’ll rewind. HDF was founded in 1983 through the help of the Hall Family Foundation, a pretty progressive idea at the time. 1983, the Hall Family Foundation wanted to seed two funds to serve two underserved communities in Kansas City, the black community and the Latino community. And the progressive part of that was that they would provide the seed dollars, but then they were gonna turn it over to leaders from those communities. And from day one, HDF has been blessed to have incredibly strong leaders in Tony Salazar, Ramón Murguía, Bobby Hernandez, Maria Mora, and others. And the first thing that our leaders decided to do was conduct a community needs assessment. So, not for that small group of leaders to determine what the, the community needed, but to go out and actually hear from, from our families. And in that community needs assessment, the number one issue that arose in 1983 was access to college, specifically financial aid and scholarships. So, in 1984, the HDF Scholarship program was born, very humble beginnings, uh, one hundred $100 scholarships, $10,000 total. And this past year in 2023 was a new milestone for our program. We awarded 550 Kansas City Latino scholars over a million dollars in scholarships. And I would say there’s two ways that we’ve gotten there and, and, and had that tremendous growth. In addition to strong leadership from our, our board. Number one, we’re very fortunate to have over 20 college and university match partners in the region. And so universities like the University of Kansas or Rockhurst to Avila, MCC, so on and so forth, they provide a match and leverage those dollars that we award to our scholars. And then secondly, I have to credit the community. I’m very proud to say that two thirds of that million dollars that was awarded was actually fundraised from the Kansas City Latino community through our annual Cambio Para Cambio campaign. It is a campaign that we started about six years ago. We actually borrowed, or for lack of a better term, we, we stole the campaign idea from a Latino organization out in Denver, Colorado. And the idea was that we would engage Latino professionals during Hispanic Heritage month in giving and giving back to their community and crowdfunding of sorts. So they would ask their neighbors, their friends, their colleagues, to contribute to the HDF Scholarship Fund. And in the first campaign, we raised about $6,000. More importantly, we engaged 140 new donors, majority of whom are, are Kansas City Latinos. And we were excited. That was the first time we ran it, and we thought it was a success. The next year, we decided to include students from Alta Vista Charter High School in the campaign effort. And what we found in that next campaign is that the students actually out fundraised the professionals, the adults. And a light bulb moment went off for HDF was, we had not been seeing or maybe underestimating the philanthropic power of students and student leaders. And so the very next year I came on staff with HDF, we turned it into this competition where we now have four divisions of competing teams to fundraise. And so we have a high school division where we had 12 high schools and student led initiatives fundraise during Hispanic Heritage Month. We have a college division where we have Latino orgs from our various college partners. We have a professional division in our, our name scholarship division. And that campaign has now grown from $6,000 fundraising annually to this past year, $500,000 this past fall.

Maurice Watson:

How does strengthening the Latinx community impact the greater Kansas City community?

John Kearney:

I think, you know, I say this all the time. I’m not from the Latino community. I’m not Latino myself, but I’ve been very fortunate to, to really get to know this, this wonderful, vibrant, beautiful community. And for those who perhaps have not been given that opportunity, I would ask, you know, do you care about Kansas City’s economy and society in general? And when you look at, especially, the contributions that the Latino community is making to this city, when you look at how it’s the fastest growing population has been for quite some time, it, I think it’s important for all of us as Kansas Citians to embrace and to support the Latino community.

Maurice Watson:

What can the community at large do to help those looking for access to post-secondary education, and how can we get involved?

John Kearney:

So, there’s a number of ways to support and get involved. First and foremost would be through volunteering. We have a number of ways where, where folks can volunteer with HDF, we believe in direct service work and meeting our community where it’s at. And so we have a, a small but mighty team of, of eight full-time staff members. And seven of our staff members, excluding myself, are working in the largest Latino serving high schools every single day, or they’re out working at community centers and working with our students at colleges and universities. And so we have workshops throughout the year where professionals can meet our scholars or prospective scholars, our family college prep program participants and help mentor help them with the scholarship process, the, the college going process. And so volunteering is key. Secondly, we of course, could use increased funding. And I don’t know if, if many people realize this, but I mentioned how the Latino community is the fastest growing subgroup in Kansas City as well as the United States. Kansas and the state of Kansas, one of every 4K through 12 students now identifies as Hispanic or Latino. That’s a trend that’s across the country. And in fact, I think I read yesterday that over one in every four Americans are going to be Latino by 2060. And so there is a huge demand for resources and scholarships, and unfortunately, Latino funds are the most underfunded funds in the United States, and they’re receiving the least amount of dollars. So philanthropic giving is, is very, very important. At HDF last year, we proudly supported 550 Kansas City Latino students, was a new benchmark and record for our organization, but there were another 250 plus students that received a no from us. And so we have no shortage of demand when it comes to resources here in Kansas City.

Maurice Watson:

Share with us what motivates you.

John Kearney:

At the end of the day. I mean, if you had asked me, you know, John, did you foresee that you would be the executive director of the greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund 20 years ago? I, I would’ve probably laughed and said, <laugh>, what are you talking about? But it’s funny how life works. I think for me, I’ve always been service driven at a young age all through high school. I actually, I wanted to, to be a Marine, I wanted to join the US Marines. And, uh, my parents had different ideas for me and really helped me make the decision to go to four year college instead. But no, I think fundamentally for me, when I look at my life someday, it really boils down to two things and, and what makes me happy or perhaps attain a fulfilling life. And that’s the, the people I surround myself with. So the relationships, the friends, the families I have in my life. And then two, it’s giving back, it’s service to this community, to the state, to this, to this country. And for me, I guess I, I think I’ve just found my, my calling in that it’s within education and presently, it’s helping students and families access what I believe is still the best catalyst to achieving the American dream. And I get to see and be a part of that every day. And, and so that, that motivates me every day. I firmly believe, although our country certainly has its warts and is certainly going through quite a bit and has for, you know, the last decade or so, I still believe in the opportunity and the promise that this country has. And, and I get to witness it every day, especially from first generation immigrants who sacrifice everything to come here. And I get to see the parents sacrifice, the family sacrifice, but then the children help to realize those dreams and, and make those sacrifices worth it for the family. So I think, I think that’s what really motivates me.

Maurice Watson:

Have you thought about what’s next for you?

John Kearney:

I never do. Maurice <laugh>. I operate, uh, from my heart and my gut, and I feel like this is where I’m supposed to be right now. And so I, I’m not someone who’s looking three years, five years down the road. I see just such a huge demand for continued work and improved work in this space in Kansas City. It’s something love to talk about. I get on my soapbox quite a bit and, and how we haven’t fully addressed the demand and need that, that exists and, and not just within the Latino community, but to help all students and families navigate, you know, post-secondary space and, and figuring out what is the next step. I think it’s just crucial to those families and into their long-term, you know, success and, and happiness. But it’s, it’s so important to our economy, to our country. So I’m right where I think I’m supposed to be right now.

Maurice Watson:

So, if there are people out there wanting to learn more about your work and how they can be supportive, including support your work financially, how do they learn more about you and your organizations?

John Kearney:

I would invite people to, of course, visit our website at hdfkc.org to learn more about our work. I would invite folks to reach out to us through social media, email, and engage and come out and volunteer and see the work that our amazing team does every day in, in Kansas City and across the various high schools and, and across the community. And if it speaks to them, I would invite folks to give to our cause and help us, you know, meet the demand and, and expand our services.

Maurice Watson:

Thanks for listening. And be sure to sign up for our newsletter at pinnacleprizekc.org to continue to listen, learn and be inspired by dynamic emerging leaders like John Kearney in our community.

Hosted By Maurice Watson

Maurice is a recognized community leader and has more than thirty years of experience working in law, social and public policy and board governance as a lawyer, advisor, and board member. He is the co-founder and principal of Credo Philanthropy Advisors.