Video: Operation Breakthrough helping kiddos reach their full potential
November 9, 2017 | Bobby Burch
Founded in 1971 by two nuns, Sister Corita Bussanmas and Sister Berta Sailer, Operation Breakthrough serves more than 450 children daily with a mission to provide a safe educational environment for children in poverty.
The has adapted through the decades to meet the needs of Kansas City’s low-income community, Operation Breakthrough CEO Mary Esselman said. Implemented three years ago, the makerspace includes such zones as textiles, studio arts, chef’s corner and construction/toy hacking, she said. It’s part of an effort to expand early childhood development beyond merely teaching toddlers how to pick up a book, Esselman said.
Welcoming select children from ages 6 weeks to 13 years, the center also includes such health-related programs as a USDA-approved meal program serving more than 1,000 meals a day, occupational and physical therapy, speech and language therapy, a dental clinic, and an on-site Children’s Mercy clinic.
Learn more about the center with the video below.

2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Without further ado, LaunchKC announces top 20 finalists
After weeks of application reviews, LaunchKC has announced the top 20 contenders in their Kansas City-based grant competition. With a special kudos to Kansas City, 12 of the top 20 are from the metro area. Of the remaining eight finalists, seven are from seven U.S. states; and one from Santiago, Chile. Three of these non-Kansas City…
GigaPower coming to northeastern Johnson County
AT&T announced this week that the company is expanding availability of U-Verse with GigaPower, its latest high-speed internet service aiming to compete against Google Fiber. The service is coming to Fairway, Mission Hills and Prairie Village, the company announced Monday. GigaPower appeared in the Kansas City metro area in February in parts of Kansas City,…
KC startup lands six PGA partnerships, more on the way
Jason Gregory is feeling pretty confident his company will be the exclusive partner for at least half of the PGA American independent sections by next year. CaddyX is a golf bag transportation company that takes the leg work out of golfer’s experience by letting them schedule pick up for their clubs with the click of…
Sprint Accelerator opens applications, dons new name
Kansas City’s top business accelerator is now accepting applications for a wider applicant pool after a recent — albeit minimal — name change. The Sprint Mobile Accelerator — formerly the Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator — lightened up its name to better reflect its broader focus on boosting mobile-centric startups. Led by Boulder-based Techstars, the accelerator…
