American Public Square Welcomes New Board Members & Wins National Award

Overview

{"full_text":"News and Updates - American Public Square \n\n Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility \r\n\n News and\n Updates \n\n American Public Square Welcomes Three New Board Members \n\n Feb 12, 2026 \n\nAmerican Public Square is pleased to welcome three distinguished community leaders to our Board of Directors: Cathi Brain, Frank Lipsman, and James Bergman. \n\nCathi Brain\n\nOriginally from Davenport, Iowa, Cathi earned her BA in Humanities from the University of St.

Catherine and her MBA in Finance from the University of Minnesota. She moved to Kansas City in 1985 to join Peat Marwick (now KPMG) in consulting, later serving in Human Resources roles at Marion Labs and the Kauffman Foundation until 1997. After leaving full-time employment to raise her family, she has remained deeply engaged in Kansas City’s civic and philanthropic life.

She has served on the boards of St. Paul’s Episcopal School, Ozanam, and Kansas City PBS, and has led fundraising initiatives for more than a dozen nonprofit organizations across the region. Her philanthropic focus includes economic development and job creation, education, and social justice, priorities that align closely with APS’s mission to strengthen civic culture.

She has been married to David Brain since 1990 and is the proud mother of four children and grandmother to two. \n\nFrank Lipsman\n\nFrank Lipsman and his wife, Janet Mark, have supported American Public Square since its earliest days. Most recently, they served as co-chairs of the 2025 Evening at the Square, helping to advance APS’s mission of fostering civil dialogue.

Frank practiced law in Kansas City for 38 years, maintaining a commercial litigation practice representing individuals and companies in complex business disputes involving real estate, banking, and contract enforcement. Since 2022, he has served as a mediator, assisting litigants in Missouri and Kansas in resolving disputes outside the courtroom. He has been an active civic leader throughout his career, serving on numerous nonprofit boards and chairing several, including the Jewish Community Center, the Jewish Community Relations Board/American Jewish Committee, Gilda’s Club of Kansas City, Village Shalom, and most recently the Jewish Community Foundation.

Frank brings decades of experience navigating complex conversations and building consensus, skills central to APS’s work. \n\nJames Bergman\n\nJames Bergman currently serves as Executive Director of the World Giving Foundation and as a Philanthropic Impact Strategist with Midwest Trust Company. His work focuses on strategic, tax-efficient philanthropy and helping individuals and families maximize the impact of their giving.

\n\nJames holds an MBA from the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford and undergraduate degrees in Anthropology, Latin, and Religion from Furman University. \n\n Please join us in welcoming these outstanding leaders to the American Public Square Board of Directors. \n\n APS Selected as Community Host for Aspen Institute's Weaver Awards \n\n January 13, 2026 \n\n American Public Square is honored to announce that we have been selected as one of 25 Community Host organizations for the 2026 Weaver Awards, a national initiative of Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute.

\n\n The Weaver Awards are part of a constellation of activities designed to celebrate and support weavers—everyday neighbors who are building relationships, strengthening belonging, and weaving trust into the social fabric of their communities. S. \n\n“This opportunity fits who we are,” said Claire Bishop, CEO of American Public Square .

“APS has spent more than a decade helping people stay in the room with each other — even when it’s hard. Now we get to shine a light on the quiet leaders across Kansas City who are already doing this work every day. ”\n\n “While loneliness, isolation, and division seem to define our national story, these 25 Community Hosts show us another truth — that trust grows when neighbors show up for one another, build relationships, and work together,’ said Frederick J.

Riley, Executive Director of Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute. ” \n\n Each Community Host receives $225,000 in startup funding, along with training, tools, technical assistance, and ongoing support from Weave. This partnership represents a four-year commitment to our community, signaling Weave’s belief in the strength, creativity, and leadership already alive here.

The first cycle of Weaver Awards launches in fall 2026. \n\n We’ll share more information in the months ahead, including details on how local residents can apply or nominate someone for a Weaver Award. \n\n About Weave \n\n Weave: The Social Fabric Project is an initiative of the Aspen Institute dedicated to strengthening trust, connection, and belonging in communities across the United States.

Weave supports everyday weavers — neighbors who show up for others, bridge divides, and build community. Through storytelling, online learning, community-building programs, and the Weaver Awards, Weave works to repair America’s social fabric from the ground up and lift up the people who are already leading this work in their neighborhoods. org .

\n\n About APS: \n\nAmerican Public Square provides forums to build stronger, more connected communities through civil discourse, engagement, and education. We host fact-based conversations about urgent topics, convening subject matter experts and creating community spaces for necessary discussions. \n\n Charlie Kirk’s killing is a call to disagree with civility, not anger \n\n September 11, 2025 \n\n Special to The Kansas City Star : \n\n “With the killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk yesterday in Utah, we are facing yet another circumstance in which the political violence that all too frequently characterizes the landscape of public discourse in this country has tragically taken the life of a public figure.

\n\n What we know is this—APS’ Mission to depolarize our community by convening those who disagree is not a luxury in our current political environment. Our founder Ambassador Allan Katz understood this when he started American Public Square in 2014, and it is even more urgent today.   \n\n The violence that took place against Charlie Kirk on a college campus where he was invited to engage in free and open debate, reminds us exactly why a commitment to facts, civility and a desire to understand our fellow Americans is a not a luxury but a necessity and something worthy of striving for.

\n\n Now more than ever, we urge you to reach out to those with whom you may not see eye to eye, invite them to join you at one of our future programs and support those in your orbit with a constructive forum to convene, disagree and engage with civility and respect.    \n\n Regardless of our political persuasion, each of us has to decide for ourselves whether this tragic occurrence causes us to react with vitriol and divisive statements about the “other side,” or whether we choose to dig deep within ourselves to demonstrate the character and resolve that is so needed in this moment to transcend our differences and to do something better than villainizing and justifying harm to those with whom we disagree.

\n\n At APS, we know Americans are better than this. We can choose the path that leads to greater understanding through respectful and passionate disagreement, or we can retreat into our corners and let this country we love be ripped apart by our divisive politics.   \n\n I hope you will join APS in choosing the former.

”   \n\n Claire Bishop, APS Executive Director   \n\n Amb. Allan Katz, APS Board Chair   \n\n American Public Square Releases Its 2024 Annual Report \n\n April 17, 2025 \n\n Kansas City, MO: American Public Square (APS) has released its 2024 Annual Report. The 2024 Annual Report highlights the organization’s tenth year of programming – a year full of reflection and reinvention.

\n\nThe year began with a leadership transition as APS Founder and CEO, Amb. org . \n\n Expanding Our Mission.

Broadening Our Impact. \n\nMany events of great significance have taken place over the ten years APS has been in operation. \n\nWe recognize that in order to show up in the ways our community needs us, we must expand our mission to reflect the organization we are today.

\n\nWhat are those ideals, you might ask? The ideals of a civil society facilitate the open, voluntary participation of citizens and residents, enable stakeholders to hold those in power accountable to decisions that impact them, and provide a context for mutual benefit and exchange. \n\nFor these ideals to truly take root and grow in this new world, we need to embrace the opportunity to rebuild the bonds of connection, affection and respect in our communities.

\n\nBill was among the first champions of American Public Square. Shortly after his return to Kansas City, APS Founder and Board Chair, Amb. ), met Bill at a dinner event and shared his idea for the organization that would ultimately become American Public Square.

Bill immediately and enthusiastically offered his support. \n\nFrom helping jumpstart the organization to serving as the Board Treasurer and on to his role of co-chair for APS’ most successful Evening at the Square fundraiser just a few months ago, Bill was actively engaged for the entirety of the APS’ existence. \n\n “It is difficult to express how important Bill was to me and American Public Square.

He was a good friend…at lunch, on the golf course, or anytime he was helping me figure out how to grow APS. we will not see his like again,” Amb. \n\n Read Bill's Obituary \n\nBill was thoughtful, encouraging and relentlessly supportive of APS’ mission.

\n\nPlease join us in remembering and honoring our dear friend. \n\n Past Messages \n\n Changes to Academic Home Structure \n\n 2024 KC Voter Guide \n\n Mid-Year 2023 \n\n APS National Steering Committee \n\n 2023 Annual Report \n\n Selecting our Panelists \n\n On Cancel Culture \n\n On Tackling Abortion \n\n Changes to Academic Home Structure \n\n APS Announces Changes to its Academic Home Structure \n\n January 15, 2025 \n\n American Public Square and William Jewell College agree to an altered partnership \n\nSince 2019, William Jewell College has served as the academic home of American Public Square.

\n\nIn late 2024, American Public Square and William Jewell College agreed to alter the nature of their partnership. American Public Square will no longer operate within a singular academic home structure. Rather, the organization intends to broaden relationships with multiple post-secondary institutions in our region.

\n\n “William Jewell has been a valued partner of APS’ for many years and we look forward to continuing to work with them in a variety of ways, including joint programming and internships. \n\nWith over ten years of programming experience, American Public Square’s mission centers on bringing people together to build stronger, more connected communities.

\n\nOne of the ways the organization does this is through civics education efforts that empower both youth and adults with the skills to navigate today’s fast-changing information landscape so they can be active, informed citizens engaged in the important work of democracy. org/student . \"\n\n 2024 KC Voter Guide \n\n APS-Supported 2024 KC Voter Guide Now Available!

\n\nThe 2024 KC Voter Guide will provide wide-reaching coverage of candidates and issues on both sides of the state line heading into the August primaries. After results are confirmed, a printed version will be produced–in addition to the online version–to support voters as they prepare to head to the polls in November. \n\n This initiative marks the first collaboration between the Kansas City Media Collective (American Public Square, Kansas City PBS/Flatland, KCUR, Missouri Business Alert, Startland News, The Beacon) and The Kansas City Star.

It is focused on supporting local voters with accessible and accurate local journalism to stay informed in a critical election year.  Additional partners in this project include RevEd. \n\nAbout the KC Media Collective\n\n Mid-Year 2023 \n\n A Mid-Year Message from APS Executive Director, Claire Bishop \n\n June 13, 2024 \n\nWhen we looked ahead to 2024, we knew it would be a big year for American Public Square.

\n\nWe fully recognize the many diverse perspectives about the presidential election—they swing to both ends of the political spectrum. \n\n Not only does APS exist to expose community members to diverse and divergent perspectives, much of what we do is also rooted in the fundamentals of community building—creating space and time for individuals within our community to rebuild our personal bonds with one another.

\n\nAs we hit the halfway point of 2024, I want to highlight our increased focus on events that promote and support community building. \n\nAs we face the second half of the year, we are pleased to continue to offer the Signature events you have come to expect from us. \n\nWith this in mind, APS will offer more film screenings, book events, Member socials, student and educator workshops and more in the second half of this year.

S. We were particularly inspired by a recent report, “Searching for a New Paradigm: Collective Settings”  published by More in Common and the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. ” \n\n APS National Steering Committee \n\n American Public Square at Jewell Announces Creation of a National Steering Committee \n\n May 23, 2024 \n\n Kansas City, MO: American Public Square at Jewell (APS) announces a new National Steering Committee, established to support the organization’s growth and programming strategies.

\n\nParticipants of the steering committee bring a wide array of experiences and expertise, particularly in the national political landscape. They will serve in an advisory capacity to the organization’s Board of Directors, Executive Director and staff. org .

\n\n 2023 Annual Report \n\n American Public Square at Jewell Releases Its 2023 Annual Report \n\n June 27, 2023 \n\n Kansas City, MO: American Public Square at Jewell (APS) has released its 2023 Annual Report. The 2023 Annual Report highlights a year when APS tackled the contentious topics of cancel culture, reparations, abortion and more. org .

\n\n Selecting our Panelists \n\n Selecting our Panelists-A Message from APS CEO, Allan Katz \n\n June 15, 2023 \n\n After every APS program, I’m fortunate to receive a variety of feedback about the panelists, the moderator, the topic and more.  I appreciate it. \n\nIf you’re familiar with APS then you know we are purposeful about choosing topics that are divisive and the source of many divergent perspectives—this approach is part of what differentiates APS.

It should then be no surprise to you to hear that not everyone we seek out to participate is comfortable showing up and voicing their perspectives in front of a live audience and streaming cameras. Finding knowledgeable panelists who agree to sit on our panels and are available to do so is one of the most time consuming and challenging (sometimes arduous) tasks we have at APS.

So above all, I want to express my sincere appreciation for the panelists who do show up. \n\nSecondly, divisive topics naturally generate emotional responses. It’s entirely possible that some audience members find themselves uncomfortable with certain commentary, panelists, or other audience members.

And this is okay. It is not our role to temper strong emotions or limit perspectives—it is our job to expose diverse and divergent perspectives. Even if an audience member vehemently disagrees with a panelist’s commentary, I believe they are better for having been exposed to it.

It is part of what will expand their understanding of the complexity of these issues. I can also assure you, whatever viewpoint they’re there to represent every panelist has supporters in the room. \n\nFinally, just because we are purposeful about creating space for divergent perspectives, doesn’t mean we don’t draw lines on what is acceptable.

For the most part, we believe exposure to diverse and divergent perspectives is a constructive learning tool—a way to understand the nuance and complexities of the issues we face as a nation. But we would never intentionally seek out a panelist who we believe brings a real threat of inciting violence, spouting hatred, or exclusively relying on hyperbole or categorical falsehoods.

\n\nAs a community, your presence at our programs and the reactions to the discussions remain deeply valuable to me and the staff at APS. As you continue to engage in our programming, I ask you to do so with the perspective I’ve offered here. Listen with intent.

Reflect on your first impressions. Learn something from everyone who shows up to the conversation. Sit in your discomfort.

\n\n After all, that is what APS is all about. ) \n\n On Cancel Culture \n\n A note on cancel culture, from Amb. ), CEO-American Public Square \n\nOn Tuesday, March 21, APS is partnering with KCPBS and The National WWI Museum and Memorial to present a program that will address our society’s increasing unwillingness to tolerate divergent viewpoints.

The “Canceled, Censored, Banned” program will feature a panel of experts entrenched in the issues of book banning, free speech, freedom of information, and more. \n\nAs I consider the cancel culture topic, it’s easy to feel that it’s unique to contemporary society, but this is not a new issue. I am reading Adam Hochschild’s recent book “American Midnight” which chronicles what happened in America when we entered World War I.

S. entered the first world war. Books with German titles were burned, and public gatherings were frequently and violently disrupted with no intervention by legal authorities.

\n\nWe have a history of intolerance, particularly centered on the belief that the books or speeches of those with whom we disagree are dangerous. We have a history of using the coercive power of the state to “strong-arm” compliance with given perspectives. \n\nAPS’ mission centers on providing platforms for those who feel strongly about one perspective to engage with those who have a different perspective–not as enemies in violent or contentious political conflict, but as fellow community members who need to be challenged by different perspectives so that the community can determine a path forward together.

Our work at APS is not to advocate, but we welcome advocates in our midst. \n\nIf this is the way we more consistently address public issues, we believe our community and our nation will be a better, more dynamic, and successful society. We have no doubt you have your own opinions on cancel culture, book banning, political and social censorship—so join us on March 21.

Come challenge your own perspective and engage in a meaningful conversation alongside those with whom you may disagree. ) \n\n On Tackling Abortion \n\n A note on our student-produced program tackling Abortion, from Amb. ), CEO-American Public Square \n\n On Tuesday, April 25 American Public Square will host our first program on the topic of abortion and how it is dividing our country.

\n\nThis program has been produced by the high school students participating in our Civics Education Initiative, a student-led program. Candidly, this is a topic we adults have studiously avoided in the nine years we have been doing programs at American Public Square. However, we feel strongly about giving our students a voice in these decisions and it was they who decided this was the topic that needed to be discussed.

\n\nI had some time to sit and chat with a group of students during their final workday last week and several of them cited that their interest in this topic was heavily driven by the Dobbs decision which overruled the longstanding Roe v. Wade precedent. All of us agreed this decision highlighted, and in some cases reignited longstanding divisions.

\n\nWe hope the students’ program will be a model to encourage more of us to engage in civil dialogue about abortion and other polarizing topics so that we may work together to build a less contemptuous, safer, and more productive society. There is no question that our panelists hold wildly different views on this topic, as does our broader APS community.

\n\n Will you join me in supporting these local students by attending their program Tuesday evening? The in-person event takes place at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library, beginning at 5:30pm; there is a virtual viewing option as well.

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