Wasserstrom Award honors minority health care and public education advocate

Those who know her say Melissa J. Robinson is in constant motion.

As president of the Black Health Care Coalition, Robinson works to raise public awareness in the African-American and minority community about how an unhealthy lifestyle can lead to diabetes, cancer, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

As board chairwoman of the Kansas City Public Schools, she works to ensure thousands of children in the urban core receive a quality education.

For those acts, and many others, Robinson is the recipient of the 2018 Evelyn Wasserstrom Award.

“She is not just affable, she is an activist and she gets things done,” said the Rev. Robert Hill, an event organizer and the retired pastor of Community Christian Church. “The combination of her cooperative sensibilities and her commitment to deliver real action on behalf of people in need commended her highly for being selected this year.”

The award was to be presented Jan. 7 during the annual Interfaith Service held at Christian Community Church. The yearly worship service brings together members of the Protestant, Muslim, Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist and Baha’i faiths.

The Wasserstrom Award, named for a founder of the annual interfaith service, recognizes work on behalf of minorities and oppressed people. Wasserstrom, who died in 1988, was the director of the Kansas City branch of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

The program is sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Bureau/American Jewish Committee and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City.

Robinson said she was humbled to receive the recognition.

“The two questions (that) serve as guidance for me each day are how can I serve and what can I do to be a voice for those who are disenfranchised?” Robinson said. “We all have a voice but the issue is how there are systems and structures are designed to silence our voices.”

Hill said Robinson is known for her years of hard work, dedication and ability to collaborate with other groups to improve conditions of those in the urban core.

“She has been one of those persons with whom you could partner with almost anybody and get things done,” Hill said.

Before leading the nonprofit Black Health Care Coalition, Robinson worked as the runaway prevention and intervention coordinator for the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime. She also served as the director of the agency’s crisis intervention work.

Robinson is a member of the Kansas City Public Improvements Advisory Council and the advisory committee for the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City Community.

All of this while raising two sons.

“Service, for me, is dismantling oppressive structures and developing grass-roots leaders to speak truth rooted in advancement for all people,” she said.

“Like Evelyn Wasserstrom and Barbara Jordan, I count it a privilege to serve others — a privilege that must be earned and with it comes a responsibility to do something good with it.”

This story was originally published January 14, 2018 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Wasserstrom Award honors minority health care and public education advocate."