Father Paisius (David) Altschul: 2009 Recipient of the Shirley Chisholm Leadership Award.
Father Paisius (David) Altschul, Executive Director and Clinical Social Worker at Reconciliation Services in Kansas City, is the 2009 recipient of the Shirley Chisholm Leadership Award. The award is sponsored by the University of Central Missouri in honor of Shirley Chisholm, notable politician and activist who espoused the viewpoint: “Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on the earth.”
Fr. Paisius obtained a Bachelor’s in Social Work from the University of Central Missouri in 2005, and a Master’s in Social Work from University of Missouri/Kansas City in 2006. This education enabled him to receive further training in psychotherapy, community development, program evaluation, and co-occurring disorders to better serve the community around the Troost Corridor. Practicum training was provided at Jewish Vocational Service, Operation Breakthrough, and Don Bosco’s “Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages” (TESOL) program. Prior to founding Reconciliation Services, Father Paisius was the Social Work Coordinator with Jewish Vocational Service, working primarily with refugees and “Temporary Assistance for Needy Clients” (TANF) program recipients. In the Fall of 2005, he helped to establish Reconciliation Services.
Reconciliation Services (RS) is uniquely situated in Kansas City, Missouri. Located on 31st and Troost Avenue, residents can see daily the impact of past segregation and discrimination on the working poor, homeless, and mentally ill. Troost Avenue has often been referred to as the “racial dividing line” of the city. RS has taken the lead, along with other local community groups, to change Troost from a dividing line to a gathering place. As such, it seeks to meet, not only the needs of individuals-at-risk, but the community in which all can live together.
Resilience studies over the past decade have shown a common factor in the power of positive relationships to motivate and sustain individual change. Thus, RS has a three-fold approach to community needs:
- emergency assistance,
- mental health assessment and therapy, and
- village building along the Troost Corridor.
One of the visions of Reconciliation Services is to see Troost transformed into the city’s gathering place, where healing, love, joy, friendship and community grow from the scarred soil of discrimination. Father Paisius plays a critical role in that transformation and we congratulate him on being the recipient of this year’s award.
