In July of 2008, several community leaders engaged in a conversation about what it would take to transform the Kansas City, Missouri School District (KCMSD). Their inspiration came from resiliency research that described major differences between scholars in extremely challenging circumstance that were not successfull and those in the same circumstances that were. One area of consistency across multiple studies was this: successful scholars didn't NOT FAIL. They DID fail. The difference was that they bounced back -- they were resilient. And a factor that made the difference: a network of caring individuals.

 

In August of 2008, several community leaders convened a meeting in a mid-town living room to discuss how -- through wide-scale community engagement -- individual Kansas Citians could be involved in the transformation of the KCMSD. The planning for BE 1! (initially '100,000 Relationships Campaign' then 'Be 1 of the 100,000' and now simply, 'BE 1!') began.

 

In January of 2009, BE 1! officially launched at a kick-off event with one goal (transform the KCMSD) and two core strategies: 

• Increase educational achievement for all KCMSD scholars by endowing them with caring individuals who will support their aspirations.
  Measure: YouthFriends/KCMSD: pre- and post- data comparison; scholar and parent surveys  

• Transform the conversation, the perception and the reality of the KCMSD within the KCMSD, the surrounding areas, and the country. 
  Measure: KCMSD enrollment increases