Kansas City, Mo. ? The Kauffman Foundation has announced two grants totaling $1 million from a new fund to support Kansas City initiatives.

The foundation will give $500,000 to the Liberty Memorial and to the YouthFriends program for adult mentors for students. The grants are the first from the Kauffman Legacy Fund, which was created in June and will make $9 million available to Kansas City projects over the next three years.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation recently reaffirmed its commitment to Kansas City through bylaw changes made with the recommendation of the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.

“This new fund is another demonstration of the Kauffman Foundation’s ongoing dedication and commitment to be a philanthropic leader and strong corporate citizen of Kansas City,” foundation president and chief executive officer Carl Schramm said in a prepared statement.

‘Change the Math’

The grant for the YouthFriends program, which will be passed through the Heart of America United Way, will support the “Change the Math” initiative to connect adult mentors with students in the Kansas City, Mo. and Kansas City, Kan., school districts.

The initiative, which has other partners, hopes to increase the number of YouthFriends mentors from 580 today in the two districts to 5,000 in three years.

“Across the region, there are over 4,000 YouthFriends volunteers, but we were woefully short in those school districts that face some of the greatest challenges,” said Tom Dugard, chief executive officer for the Heart of America United Way.

Dugard said increasing the number of mentors would translate into better test scores and higher attendance rates.

Funding development

The grant to the Liberty Memorial Assn. will be applied to the development of interactive educational programs and a large “horizon theater” within the planned museum beneath the restored memorial’s deck.

“We’re most pleased to be one of the first recipients of this new category of Kauffman Foundation grants because we feel that the educational programming associated with the museum will have a long-term effect, in particular on the youth of Kansas City,” said Steve Berkheiser, executive director of the Liberty Memorial Assn.

The grant brings the association to within $2.3 million of the more than $26 million projected cost of the new museum. Kansas City voters this spring approved $20 million in general obligation bonds for the project. The rest has come from other sources.

The Liberty Memorial Assn. also received a $500,000 pledge, over five years, from Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. of Mission.

This money will be earmarked for development of the museum’s ticketing area, museum store and study area.