Humanitarian with ‘contagious’ energy is determined to connect kids with their culture

A non-profit that started its work in Lee’s Summit schools has earned its founder accolades from the Truman Heartland Community Foundation. LaShawn Walker will receive the Heartland Humanitarian of the Year award Sept. 23 at the Toast to Our Towns Gala for her work with Suburban Balance.

After moving to Lee’s Summit 21 years ago, Walker enrolled her young son in the Blue Springs schools. There, she found he was one of just two black kids in his class.

“We decided to make sure he stayed connected to his culture and would grow up with some sort of balance,” Walker said. “We talked to a few other families who had moved their children to a suburban school district, minority families, and we found that they, too, felt the need to be a part of something that would keep our kids connected to their culture and kind of fill that important gap of cultural exposure.”

The result was the group Suburban Balance, which she founded with five families. Now, she’s worked with about 2,000 students from approximately 550 families all over the metro.

“Her enthusiasm and commitment to it and energy is really contagious, and a lot of the parents of families enrolled in her program are actively involved as volunteers. She’s just a great leader,” said Phil Hanson, president and CEO of the Truman Heartland Community Foundation.

Some of Suburban Balance’s field trips have been to the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center and the 18th and Vine jazz district, including the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

In addition to the cultural exposure, Suburban Balance also supports minority women in business, and advocates for diversity, equity and inclusion programs in local schools, such as the Lee’s Summit School District.

Initiatives might include encouraging districts to hire teachers of color and getting diversity training for existing staff members. Although Suburban Balance works with school districts across the metro in both Kansas and Missouri, the majority of the people they work with are in Lee’s Summit.

“A lot of our families move to the suburbs because of the great school districts, and what they find so often with their minority students being in the classroom is that there can be some challenges when it comes to seeing teachers of color who look like them, feeling like they belong, feeling included,” Walker said.

At the Blue Springs South High School, Walker has helped organize artistic displays about black history.

“What we have learned is that the teachers in those schools have been able to use our displays to create conversations. For example, we did a display that showed some of the inventions that black people came up with,” Walker said.

Through Suburban Balance, Walker has encouraged many minority parents to attend and speak at school board meetings. She has also impressed upon them the importance of voting in smaller elections, like those for school board positions.

“It’s one thing to advocate for equity-minded candidates, but then you have to encourage minority communities to actually go vote. We’re an education organization, so everything we do is to uplift, educate, enlighten and inform so we can together move the needle on equity, diversity and inclusion,” Walker said.

With the help of a Suburban Balance workshop, one parent decided to run for the board of education in Independence and won a seat last year.

“When you look at the landscape of school boards across Kansas and Missouri, they’re just not diverse. A lot of them don’t match the demographics of students that they’re serving,” Walker said.

That workshop aims to prepare interested parents with information about what’s involved in running for school board.

Also part of their educational programming is a focus on introducing students to black professionals in the community who work in a variety of fields, including business owners, scientists and engineers.