Honors & Awards

 
Starr Women’s Hall of Fame
On Friday, March 13, 2015, in recognition of her lifetime achievements and contributions, SkillBuilders Fund founder Marjorie Powell Allen was one of seven exceptional women from the Kansas City area inducted into the inaugural class of the new Starr Women’s Hall of Fame at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The Hall of Fame honors outstanding women in Kansas City, from all walks of life, to preserve the history of their accomplishments and to inspire other women. The Hall of Fame is a prestigious award in preserving these women’s accomplishments.

The Starr Women’s Hall of Fame inducts both historical and contemporary women who have significant ties to the Kansas City area, and whose tireless efforts have had a lasting impact on the Kansas City Metropolitan area.  The women inducted have made significant and enduring contributions to their field of endeavor, elevated the status of women, helped open new frontiers for women and for society, and inspired others by their example.

Marjorie Powell Allen has been described as a passionate visionary.  She was a proponent of “Women Helping Women”. Allen always had the heart of a social reformer and the talent for attracting other women to her ideas for making Kansas City better. She saw that indigent women needed services to help them get on track; then, at a certain point in their progress, they needed opportunities.  Other women, with funds to contribute, could offer this specialized support.  Allen’s special interest was devising ways, through philanthropic organizations she joined or founded, to bring together indigent women with the well-to-do women who could provide opportunities and services.

Allen championed women’s causes and education. She was devoted to improving women’s lives, as evidenced by her role as a founder of the Women’s Foundation, in part to bring other women into the donor fold, and the Women’s Employment Network, which aids women in their quest for financial independence. Allen and her friends established the Women’s Employment network so that women eager to leave welfare dependency behind would have some basic necessities: among them job training and classes; a modest wardrobe for interviews; and practice presenting oneself to potential employers.

She helped create and design the Central Exchange network for working women, giving them access to a network of colleagues and the opportunity for advancement.

Allen was the first woman to chair the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and the University of Kansas City Trustees, and she was voted Philanthropist of the Year by the Greater Kansas City Council on Philanthropy in 1988. She also provided funds for the Chapel at Powell Gardens, and her family donated the land on which Wildwood Outdoor Education Center operates today.