WICHITA, KAN. – Ten organizations from across the state have received grant funding from the Kansas Health Foundation for support in building their capacity to focus on issues related to health disparities.

Grantees will work to build long-term partnerships with one another and KHF anchored in strategic alignment to strengthen the health equity movement in Kansas. Health equity is often referred to as “the highest level of health for all people,” and achieving equity often requires addressing health disparities related to social and economic factors, including poverty, race/gender, education level and where people live.

“We’re confident these organizations will work together and with constituencies throughout the state to implement advocacy strategies that promote health equity,” said Steve Coen, President and CEO of the Kansas Health Foundation. “Whether they are working at the policy level or the grassroots level, it’s a pleasure to partner with these groups to increase capacity and work together to reduce health disparities.”

Each of the ten grantee organizations will receive approximately $100,000 in the first year of the grant, with the option to apply for up to $100,000 in additional funding each of the next two years. Organizations receiving funding are:

• Children’s Alliance of Kansas, to implement advocacy strategies to reform the front-end of the state’s child welfare system;
• Kansas Head Start Association, to build grassroots organizing and policy advocacy capacity among Kansas parents and engage parents in advocacy efforts to assure high-quality early childhood services;
• Kansas Advocates for Better Care, to address health disparities and improve equity for older adults in Kansas;
• NAMI Kansas, to promote more robust engagement of mental health advocates and partnerships with key policymakers to improve the quality of mental health services in Kansas;
• Thrive Allen County, to convene rural health coalitions across the state and create a rural health network for the purpose of identifying problems facing rural communities, investigating their causes and seeking solutions;
• Climate and Energy Project, to focus on the impact of environmental health on economically disadvantaged communities, communities of color and the elderly;
• El Centro, to build a grassroots effort addressing the needs of immigrants and people of color who are affected by immigration issues;
• ACLU of Kansas, to address racial disparities in the criminal justice system;
• Seed House – La Casa de la Semilla, to build a multi-strategy movement for racial justice in Kansas by implementing racial justice strategies that emerge from communities of color;
• Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, to provide cross-systems advocacy for children who are in the juvenile justice system, the child welfare system, or both systems in Kansas.

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