Kansas City Current teams up with AD Franch, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City and The Giving Grove to plant orchards and provide fresh fruits, berries and nuts during Hunger Action Month
KANSAS CITY (Sept. 9, 2022) - The Giving Grove, a Kansas City-based nonprofit serving communities facing food insecurity, announces today a partnership with goalkeeper AD Franch and The Kansas City Current to expand community orcharding in urban neighborhoods that often have limited access to fresh food. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, the official health insurance partner of the Current, is donating $100 each time AD records a save to The Giving Grove in support of Franch’s “Playing for Trees” campaign.
The partnership will kick off during Hunger Action Month with a volunteer event at a Giving Grove community orchard. Volunteers from the Current, Blue KC and The Giving Grove will harvest fruit for community distribution, mulch trees and prepare the site for fall planting.
“We have seen the power of community orchards in creating food sovereignty, promoting sustainability and bringing people together,” said Erica Kratofil, Chief Development Officer for The Giving Grove. “The support of AD, the Current and Blue KC will help us bring these benefits to even more communities.”
Since its launch in 2013, The Giving Grove national network has planted 380 orchards across the U.S., including 230 in Kansas City that are maintained with the support of Kansas City Community Gardens. The orchards are on pace to provide 75 million servings of free, healthy food over their lifetime. More than 700 trained volunteers serve as orchard stewards, ensuring that the sites are cared for, and the food is distributed to those in need.
The Current is on a 12-game unbeaten streak, second-longest streak in NWSL history. As one of the leaders of the Current, Franch has recorded three shutouts and 51 saves on the season while the Current have scored 24 goals through the first 17 games. Under this partnership, Franch will donate funds for fruit trees, berry bushes, and nut trees that will provide food for local communities.
“I am thoroughly excited about the partnership with Giving Grove. Through the ‘Playing For Trees’ campaign, we’re addressing food inequities and ensuring local communities have access to fresh produce,” said Franch. “I'm excited to work on one of what we expect to be many volunteer events like this, allowing our club, players, and fans opportunity to interact, engage, and physically make a difference in our community.”
KC Current Founding Partner Blue KC is proud to donate $100 per save in support of Franch’s campaign. Blue KC’s donations will continue through 2022, including the postseason. The donations are going directly to The Giving Grove, which is part of Blue KC’s Well Stocked initiative to increase food access and reduce food insecurity in Kansas City. Fans can join the campaign by visiting playfortrees.org/players/franch.
Kansas City Current Officially Unveils World Class Training Complex
KANSAS CITY (June 22, 2022) - The Kansas City Current opened its new $18 million training complex today, the first purpose built specifically for a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team.
“From the moment we purchased the team, we knew these elite athletes deserved world-class facilities to call their own,” said co-owner Angie Long. “In less than one year since breaking ground, our training complex is open. It’s a true ‘home away from home’ for our players – a space designed exclusively for them.”
Added co-owner Chris Long, “The overreaching goal in making an investment and commitment of this magnitude is to continue on our path of becoming the best women’s soccer club in the world. Every detail of this facility has been optimized for this team and these players to stay at the top of their game in every respect.”
The $18 million training complex, exclusively privately funded by team owners, was built using a sustainable and holistic approach. The facility is focused on all aspects of player health including training (elite weight, cardio and recovery assets) and nutritional (high performance chef, locally-sourced menus). In addition, the design is also focused on fostering player community and promoting physical and mental wellness. Beyond two world class pitches and a FIFA-approved turf pitch, the complex also includes nearby trails and an outdoor roof deck with views of downtown Kansas City.
The complex was designed by Generator Studio and built by Monarch Build, a female-owned construction firm.
"From the first moment I met with Angie, Chris and Brittany about building the training complex, their vision for this team was clear,” said Monarch Build founder Courtney Kounkel. “Every decision has been player first focused. Collaborating with this ownership group and Generator Studio to create a world-class training facility for the KC Current athletes has been a career highlight. I can't wait to get started on the stadium construction."
"The KC Current training complex keeps players, coaches and staff in mind at every turn," said Jill Monaghan, senior project designer at Generator Studio. "It's also the first professional sports training complex in North America to be built with an all-wood structure, highlighting the team’s dedication to sustainability and preserving the environment. The team is the heart of the building via a centrally located inner sanctum, supported by best-in-class amenities for players and staff which all focused on connections to the nearby pitches and views to downtown KC."
The training complex is phase one of the Kansas City Current’s commitment to investing in women’s sports and new facilities. Later this year, the team will break ground on a new $120 million soccer-specific stadium at Berkley Riverfront Park in Kansas City, Mo., the first soccer stadium purpose-built for a women’s professional team.
National Speech & Debate Association Announces New Online Competition Platform
DES MOINES, IA -- The National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) is proud to announce the launch of NSDA Campus, an online platform offering practice and tournament hosting space for speech and debate teams. NSDA Campus is an affordable and secure option for tournaments or practices that cannot be held in person due to school closures or capacity limitations, or costs and challenges associated with travel.
“Adapting to a new world of online speech and debate has been a challenge, but we’re extremely proud of NSDA Campus,” said NSDA Executive Director J. Scott Wunn. “Making sure every student continues to have access to speech and debate activities, even during a pandemic, is a top priority for our organization.”
NSDA Campus allows teams to run online speech and debate tournaments in almost exactly the same way as an in-person event by seamlessly connecting with current popular tournament software. The platform is open to any school or team looking to hold a speech and debate event. In addition to hosting online competition, all almost 3,500 school member teams receive free rooms on NSDA Campus for practice, team meetings, and more.
Although NSDA Campus was created as a solution for continued competition during the COVID-19 pandemic, the long term possibilities for increasing access to speech and debate for students and schools who have difficulty traveling to tournaments throughout the year are exciting. NSDA Campus offers every speech and debate team the opportunity to connect with an even more diverse community.
For more information on NSDA Campus, including a preview of the system and training materials, visit https://www.speechanddebate.org/nsda-campus/.
National Speech & Debate Association Announces Reno High School Educator as the 2020 Educator of the Year
DES MOINES, IOWA (March 6, 2020)—The National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) is excited to announce Christy Briggs from Reno High School in Nevada as the 2020 NSDA National Educator of the Year.
"Christy works tirelessly to support speech and debate and her students,” said J. Scott Wunn, Executive Director of the National Speech & Debate Association. “The focus she puts on building lifelong, crucial skills sets her students up for success in every stage of life. We're extremely lucky to have dedicated, passionate educators like Christy in our activity, and I'm honored to recognize her contributions to speech and debate."
In her 12 years at Reno High School, Briggs has focused on supporting her students and encouraging them to speak up on issues they care about. In addition to her speech and debate role, she is also the English Department Leader and advisor for the school newspaper. She also serves as the President of the Northern Nevada Forensics League, where she supports other local speech and debate coaches and teachers.
“One of the most beautiful things speech and debate does is give students a voice,” said Christy Briggs. “If students walk away with nothing else from their time in my classroom, I hope they walk away knowing how to advocate for what they believe in, because they have been given opportunities to explore those beliefs in a safe and encouraging environment.”
The National Speech & Debate Association’s National Educator of the Year award annually honors an individual who has enhanced the quality of education in the field of speech and debate. They exemplify the NSDA’s five core values of equity, integrity, respect, leadership, and service both within and beyond the walls of their classroom. From more than 5,000 eligible educators across the country, five finalists are named and a winner is chosen by a committee of fellow educators and coaches.
For more information about the award, visit www.speechanddebate.org/coach-recognition.
Marketing/Public Relations Plan for the Young Women's Resource Center
At Drake University, our senior capstone experience leaves us to create a full-scale marketing and public relations plan for a local client. I was selected as an Account Executive, one of only seven in my class, to lead a team through this process. Sound interesting? Check out our plan by clicking here. (Bonus fact: I did all of the graphic design for our plan.)
Pitch Letter to Erik Pipenberg of the New York Times Theater Section
Hi Erik,
Here is the information about the event around Pride Week that I mentioned. We’ve been handling Dixon Place for three years, and the HOT! Festival is definitely a summer highlight! It’s NYC’s longest running LGBTQ performance festival, featuring theater, music, dance, puppetry, burlesque and performance art. Now in its 25th year, HOT! is the oldest annual festival of its kind in the world, and serves as a model for other queer festivals across the globe. It takes place immediately following Pride Week as an extension of the celebration. (July 5th through August 6th)
This year, the centerpiece of HOT! be Monstah Black’s new production HYPERBOLIC! (The Last Spectacle), a musical noir that combines theatre, dance, fashion and music. Set in a dreamy post-apocalyptic semi-reality, HYPERBOLIC! (The Last Spectacle) imagines the very last party on earth, so you know it will be a good time. The evening promises to be filled with glam gore, sensual debauchery, sinister characters and good old laughter. (July 8th through July 23rd). A press release also attached!
During Pride Week, Dixon Place will feature LAVA, an acrobatic dance company with female and transgender performers. Their production Half Way There, follows a feminist traveler through magical forests, mysterious initiations in underground movement caves, and an explosion of rainbow utopia celebration, until finally she sees her world transformed from the harsh brutality of patriarchy into a present possibility of integration, intersectionality, and geologic connection. LAVA performs at Dixon Place on June 23rd and June 24th beginning at 7pm.
