Steve Hollis and Darren Morton work closely together combating the issue of homelessness in Columbia. Hollis is the Human Services Manager of Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services, and Morton is the Director of Turning Point, an organization that works with people experiencing homelessness.They spoke about breaking the stigmas surrounding unhoused people, and about how important it is for the entire community to understand how difficult it can be to “pull yourself up” when there are no more bootstraps.

Andrew Pham and Alice Yu are both members of the Mizzou Asian American Association.They spoke about the challenges of rallying a historically disconnected Asian American community in the aftermath of recent hate crimes – and about how their generation might be the ones to overcome those challenges.

Dorreen Rardin and Jackie Reed in Columbia are both long-time nurses who spent their careers working in palliative end-of-life care. After they retired, they joined together to co-found Caring Hearts and Hands of Columbia, a social model home for the dying – basically a community-supposed home for terminally ill people.They spoke about what needs to be done to improve the end of folks’ lives and about what the community could do to help as they work toward creating a social model home.

Reverend Fred Leist and Teressa Gilbreth both work at Missouri United Methodist church in downtown Columbia.They reflected on the past year or so of the coronavirus pandemic, and spoke about how their congregation remained supportive through an emotionally taxing COVID-19 lockdown and how they’re NOW looking forward to rebuilding their community.

Matthew Mertz and Lee Porterfield both live in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and are both veterans who served in the Army for over two decades.They spoke about how all of their children were born in different places and about it can be complicated to find TRICARE, or military health benefits, in some civilian environments – especially rural ones.

Jordan Richards and Tracy Davis are both Board Members at The Center Project, an LGBTQ+ resource and community center for Mid-Missouri.They spoke about some of the barriers transgender Missourians face when they need to go to the doctor – for gender-affirming health care or even for a simple checkup.

Rev. Kirk Perucca is the Pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church - a multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-economic congregation in Kansas City.He spoke…

Jordan Richards and Tracy Davis both work at The Center Project, an LGBTQ+ resource and community center for Mid-Missouri. They spoke about what Medicaid expansion – or a lack thereof – could mean for transgender Missourians.

Steve Hollis and Darren Morton work closely together combating the issue of homelessness in Columbia. Hollis is the Human Services Manager of…

Father Francis Doyle is the pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Columbia. He works closely with Deacon Michael Berendzen who coordinates the…