Shortly after Robert Warren ’96 became a pastor and founded Word of Faith Worship Center in St. Joseph, Missouri, his wife, Kimberly ’92, suggested that they open a learning center for children from their church and neighborhood.
“I couldn’t even imagine that,” Robert said with a laugh. “That was a huge step off the grid and into the deep.”
But open a learning center they did, using two buildings, a former school and the mansion of a former state governor; just south of 20th and Messanie Streets. Fifteen years later, MidCity Excellence Community Learning Center is thriving and continuing to serve an underserved population. Since it began, the Warrens’ center has served more than 1,000 youth.
Kimberly noted that children who come from families in poverty do not have the option of taking lessons or getting involved in a number of after-school or weekend activities because their families can’t afford it. So she and Robert wanted to give children those experiences and keep them busy.
Their center wasn’t open very long before the Warrens realized they needed to expand beyond the children and offer something for parents, too. “We had to reach the entire family and empower the family from the top down,” Kimberly said. So they added programming for computer training, GED training and helping adults find jobs.
Recently, the center hosted a job fair for Tyson Foods, and 29 people were hired on the spot for full-time employment, and many more were scheduled for interviews.
Today, the center offers programs for all ages in performing arts, computer training, leadership and social justice initiatives, holding after-school, evening and summer programs. Robert recently began a Man-Up program for at-risk teen boys, which offers activities for the teens, along with introducing them to successful male role models from the community.
“The boys want a positive, healthy alternative to risky behavior,” Robert said. “They want someone to coach and mentor them.”
The center’s performing arts groups, which include dance groups and choirs, entertain audiences throughout the community.
“We have to show these kids that they are somebody right now, and they are contributing now; not just when they are adults,” Kimberly said. “They need little glimpses of success all along the way.”
Kimberly, from St. Joseph, and Robert, from a small town outside of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, met as students at Missouri Western. Both children of ministers, Kimberly was a psychology major and Robert played football and majored in music. They were married in 1992 and both went on to earn master’s degrees.
Kimberly is a certified public school district grant writer, and her skills have helped the center operate with grants she has received, along with a lot of collaboration and support from nonprofit organizations throughout the city. Grant funding allowed Robert, who is now the music educator at Carden Park Elementary School in St. Joseph, to work full-time at the center for 10 years.
They have both received numerous community awards for their work, including being inducted into St. Joseph’s Black Archives Hall of Fame.
Missouri Western’s relationship with the center goes back to its earliest beginnings. When they needed computers to get started, Kimberly found out Missouri Western had several old ones they were not using any more. She called then-president Dr. James Scanlon and the center got 50 computers. He also gave a presentation to the children at the center.
Additionally, a lot of Missouri Western students volunteer there, new students have helped at the center through the Griffon Edge orientation service component, and Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president, spoke at a Solutions Summit on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this past January. The Warrens are also members of Missouri Western’s Black Alumni Network (see article on p. 29).
Kimberly said one of her favorite Bible quotations (Proverbs 29:18) reflects their work at the center: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
“If you don’t have a vision, a fire in your gut, you’ll live a life without purpose or direction.”
So the Warrens help children and adults not only discover their vision, but achieve it. Every day.
“We want to be part of the solution,” Kimberly said.