Sparking the Future: Inside Operation Breakthrough’s Half-Century Evolution
- Make48+Team
- 18 hours ago
- 3 min read
This September 18–20, seven teams take center stage in Kansas City for the 10th national competition for Make48. There is no venue better suited than the Ignition Lab at Operation Breakthrough.
Make48 CEO Tom Gray noted, "Operation Breakthrough and Make48 both have assets we want to maximize. Operation Breakthrough has a fully developed makerspace, and Make48 has an event, documentary, and Makers who can make unique projects."
Yet the state-of-the-art tools of the Ignition Lab represent far more than a production backdrop. Beneath the hum of 3D printers is the pulse of a half-century mission to ensure no child is left behind.
1971: An Open Door at 31st and Paseo
Operation Breakthrough began not with major capital campaigns or civic planning, but with an urgent, local need. In 1971, Sister Corita Bussanmas and Sister Berta Sailer opened their living room to care for 50 neighborhood children whose parents had nowhere safe to leave them while working.
Their guiding principle was straightforward: provide a safe, loving, and educational environment for children living in poverty while surrounding their families with unconditional support, advocacy, and emergency relief.
From those initial fifty children, the nonprofit grew into an anchor of Kansas City’s urban core. It met every crisis head-on, continually broadening its scope to support the whole child – and the whole household.
More Than a School
Over the following decades, Operation Breakthrough evolved into one of Missouri’s largest and most comprehensive early childhood and family development centers, now serving over 700 children each day.
Recognizing that a child cannot thrive if basic needs at home go unmet, the organization developed wraparound support systems on a single campus:
Whole-Person Wellness: Healthcare, pediatric dental clinics, mental health therapy, and crisis intervention.
Family Stability: An on-site food pantry and "Berta’s Boutique," providing essential groceries, toiletries, household items, and clothing at no cost.
Empowering Parents: Adult education including GED preparation, resume building, job searches, and parenting workshops designed to create multi-generational stability.
Under the dedicated leadership of CEO and Director Mary Esselman, Operation Breakthrough protected this core mission while actively looking ahead to the economic realities facing the next generation.
Bridging Troost
Historically, Troost Avenue served as a stark geographic and economic dividing line in Kansas City. In 2018, Operation Breakthrough embarked on a transformative $17 million capital campaign designed to physically and symbolically bridge that divide.
The expansion dramatically amplified early education with integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines, ensuring neighborhood children received hands-on exposure to 21st-century careers from their earliest years.
The Ignition Lab: Powered by 87 & Running
In 2021, that vision took physical shape directly across Troost with the launch of the Ignition Lab: Powered by 87 & Running. Supported by Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and his foundation, the 30,000-square-foot facility expanded the nonprofit's reach into high school workforce development.
Each week, roughly 100 students ages 14 to 18 step into professional-grade tracks spanning automotive technology, culinary arts, digital media, fabrication, and engineering. "The Ignition Lab itself is an extension of Operation Breakthrough... it is going to be something for high school kids to really explore the STEM Lab programs," Kelce shared. "I'm just trying to give these kids confidence and the ability to grab something that they wouldn't have otherwise and really run with it."
From competitive robotics teams to initiatives like Building the Future of Women in STEM (launching new fall cohort sessions this September 21), the Ignition Lab turns curiosity into marketable, real-world skills.
When the Make48 production team flips on the studio lights this September 18–20, the setting will reflect exactly what Sister Berta and Sister Corita envisioned in 1971: a space where neighborhood youth are equipped with every tool, mentor, and opportunity necessary to build their own futures.
How to Get Involved
Operation Breakthrough’s campus thrives on community involvement, and sustained support is essential to keeping these programs free for local families:
Volunteer Mentorship: While hundreds of alumni and community members share success stories, the organization’s greatest ongoing need is dedicated volunteers ready to form long-term mentorship relationships with students.
In-Kind Giving: Drop-offs of non-perishable foods, hygiene supplies, and children's clothing directly support Berta’s Boutique and the pantry.
Financial Advocacy: Community contributions fund classroom materials, robotics hardware, culinary ingredients, and family healthcare.
To explore volunteer schedules, donation drop-offs, or fall STEM programming, visit Operation Breakthrough.
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