Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast. In this podcast, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders from our nation and from your backyard who are working to improve health.
In episode 24, we interview Becca Graves, executive director at Perigee Fund. The Perigee Fund is a philanthropy that focuses on increasing support for families impacted by trauma. It invests in systems change to ensure that during pregnancy and early childhood, more families receive healing programs, services and resources that protect and nurture their unfolding relationships.
In this episode, Becca discusses her economic mindset and a twist of fate that led to her working in philanthropy.
She discusses how in a previous role she was part of many conversations where people discussed the long-term impact of childhood trauma on adults or how to support high school students who had experienced early trauma.
“I was always in the room thinking, why are we not doing something earlier?” Becca said.
“Mental health begins before birth, and the well-being of parents as they expect a child is incredibly important.”
– Becca Graves
Becca discusses the importance of this and how it’s critical to address mental health during pregnancy, as it’s not only important for the parents, but it’s also where mental health for a child begins.
“Mental health begins before birth, and the well-being of parents as they expect a child is incredibly important,” she said. “Maternal mental health complications during pregnancy and postpartum are incredibly common. Maternal depression is the one of the original ACEs. And, largely, maternal mental health complications are preventable and treatable.”
ACEs refers to Adverse Childhood Experience score, which is derived from a questionnaire that measures exposure to different types of adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse, neglect or household dysfunction.
“Addressing the well-being of children absolutely starts with their caregivers,” Becca said.
Perinatal mental health specialists are few and far between, she said, so she said they’ve invested in perinatal psychiatry around the country for physicians.
She also discussed Perigee’s efforts to affect policies and system change, which often centers on efforts to treat the baby and caregiver as a family unit instead of as individuals. At this stage of life, the relationship between the two is critically important.
“They should receive care that is connected,” she said. “There is a phrase in the infant mental health world that there’s no such thing as a baby on its own. It’s always a baby and a caregiver together. So, a lot of the policy innovation can be very, very specific to changing practice to serve the family as a unit.”
In this episode, she also discusses:
Her journey to working at the Perigee Fund
Perigee’s approach to mental health
How addressing the well-being of children starts with addressing the caregivers’ well-being; she mentions the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up home-visiting program, a model the Health Fund supported to determine its efficacy in Kansas
How health insurance, including the public health insurance program Medicaid, is critical for helping mothers and babies
The importance of nurturing the bond between parents and their child
Thank you for attending our annual Healthy Congregations retreat April 10-11 in Salina, Kansas!
We appreciate everyone who attended our annual Healthy Congregations retreat this year. We hope you enjoyed connecting, learning, sharing and developing relationships with others who share a passion for congregational and community health.
We’ve included resources from the 2025 retreat below. If you posted on social media during the event, we’d love for you to tag us @umhealthfund! And, we hope to see you again in 2026!
Healthy Congregations contact: Katie Schoenhoff, vice president of programs, katie@healthfund.org
This commentary originally ran in the Kansas Reflector on August 30, 2022. About the authors: Dr. Tiffany Anderson, superintendent of Topeka USD 501, and Dr. Shannon Portillo, associate dean and professor at the University of Kansas, served as co-chairs of the Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice; David Jordan, president and CEO of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, chaired the subcommittee on health care.
All Kansas kids deserve a high-quality education.
The Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice examined how we can ensure greater equity in educational opportunities to set families up for success. Our work found that a culturally competent and diverse teaching workforce is a critical component in addressing equity in education and providing a high-quality education.
Over the past 20 years, the Kansas population has grown more diverse, and that trend is expected to continue. In 2016, non-Hispanic whites made up 77.5% of the state population, a more than 6 percentage point dip compared with 2000. In fact, all population growth in that time was among minority populations. In the next 40 years, it’s predicted that Kansas will become a majority, minority state, meaning no group will make up more than 50% of the population.
As the demographics of Kansas change and become more diverse, it is more important than ever that our teacher diversity reflect the communities served, which is why the commission’s final report included recommendations for recruiting and retaining a diverse teacher workforce.
When students have teachers who look like them, it can increase their chances of succeeding academically. According to one longitudinal study, Black students who had at least one Black teacher in grades K-3 were 13% more likely to graduate from high school than their same-school, same-race peers.
Exposure to other backgrounds and cultures prepares students to live, work and serve in a culturally diverse society. Diversifying classrooms benefits students cognitively, emotionally, and socially.
According to a report by the United States Department of Education: “Diversity decreases at multiple points across the teacher pipeline in which teachers progress though postsecondary education, teacher preparation programs, and retention.” The report showed that nationally there’s less diversity among college graduates than high school graduates, most education majors are white, and degree completion is lower for Black and Hispanic students.
We need to change our approach to teacher education and retention if we want the benefits of a more diverse teacher workforce.
Teachers of color often join the workforce through nontraditional routes. However, traditional student teaching programs require candidates to teach full days in schools for months without pay, which creates an economic hardship when a student also works while student teaching or has caregiving responsibilities.
To improve recruitment, we should increase flexibility in student teaching programs for nontraditional students who must work and student teach. This could include approaches such as updating student teaching models or providing work-study assistance to student teachers. We should ensure that policies at higher education institutions can be adapted for education students who have outside jobs, families or limited financial resources.
Kansas should encourage expansion of grow-your-own teacher programs that recruit and train school staff or community members to become educators. Recruitment from our own communities will ensure that local educators reflect their community’s diversity within schools, while also hiring individuals who have a deep understanding of local neighborhoods. School districts should incentivize teachers and staff to live in the district.
We should ensure that school districts that have greater needs receive equitable resources. Kansas should examine options to assist districts with large numbers of at-risk populations as measured by race, ethnicity and economics. Reducing class sizes, providing mentors to new teachers, fully funding special education and providing social-emotional staffing support to these districts could improve students’ classroom experience and teacher retention.
Every child deserves a learning environment where they feel welcome. School districts should create clear policies that address diversity, equity, and inclusion to support and protect diversity among students, teachers and staff.
To encourage greater diversity in our teacher workforce, we must be intentional. Let your school board, legislators and the Kansas Board of Regents know these issues are important to you and encourage them to act.
About this series
In June 2020, Gov. Laura Kelly signed Executive Order 20-48, forming the Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice. The Commission studied issues of racial equity and justice across systems in Kansas, focusing first on policing and law enforcement and then on economic systems, education, and health care. The Commission developed recommendations for state agencies, the Legislature, and local governments. Through the end of 2022, commissioners will dig deeper into the recommendations in a monthly series.
This commentary originally ran in the Kansas Reflector on August 4, 2022. About the authors: Dr. Tiffany Anderson, superintendent of Topeka USD 501, and Dr. Shannon Portillo, associate dean and professor at the University of Kansas, served as co-chairs of the Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice; David Jordan, president and CEO of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, chaired the subcommittee on health care.
All kids should have the same opportunity to thrive.
The school-to-prison pipeline begins as early as preschool, when students are pushed out of school through out-of-school suspensions and expulsions. The overly harsh, disproportionate discipline for students in poverty and students of color often continues throughout PreK-12 and can force children into the prison system.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the school-to-prison pipeline “framework identifies ‘zero tolerance’ discipline policies, the involvement of law enforcement in school discipline and implicit bias as factors driving the disproportionate incarceration of young people of color.”
In Kansas, the school-to-prison pipeline disproportionately affects children of color. The Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice examined the pipeline with a focus on the juvenile justice and education systems. The commission’s final report made recommendations in the areas of early childhood development, behavioral health, juvenile justice, and school resource officers.
Implicit bias plays a role in creating the school-to-prison pipeline. Educators may be unaware of their biases, and they may unconsciously reflect those biases on particular student groups but not others. To address these issues, it is critical for educators beginning in the preschool setting through K-12 to receive implicit bias training.
Many children are not screened for developmental delays and disorders, mental health issues, and disabilities. When children with disabilities, sensory overload, mental health issues or trauma misbehave, we need to consider if we’re treating the behavior or punishing them. To provide treatment, a diagnosis is needed. It’s critical to increase funding for early childhood and developmental screenings.
Rather than punishment, which can have lifelong consequences, children should receive behavioral health services in educational settings as early interventions.
According to a Yale University study, preschool students are expelled more than three times as often as K-12 students. Expulsion rates were lower in settings where the preschool teachers had access to classroom-based behavioral health consultants. The commission recommends increasing availability of infant/early childhood mental health consultation services in the state to ensure children receive age-appropriate behavioral health support.
To reduce interactions with the juvenile justice system, we must examine and improve school disciplinary policies.
Some school districts employ school resource officers. If law enforcement is used in a school for any reason, the school district and law enforcement agency should have a memorandum of understanding in place. Officers’ roles should consist of mentoring students and enforcing laws, not disciplining students or enforcing school rules. Officers need to receive ongoing education and training in implicit bias and school-based strategies to support students’ social and emotional health.
Zero tolerance policies should be eliminated. Instead of subjective language — such as “disrespect” or “disobedience” — discipline policies should provide clear examples of behaviors that will not be tolerated.
In the Kansas juvenile justice system, disparities are most prevalent at the arrest level — although total arrests have decreased, disparities have climbed. According to a 2019 report by Kansans United for Youth Justice, “as the national disparity rate for black youth dropped 21% between 2006 and 2013, the disparity rate in Kansas for black youth rose 51% during the same period.”
Incarceration and out-of-home placement should be last resorts.
We should support proven programs that improve outcomes and reduce recidivism rates for young people in the juvenile justice system, focusing on behavioral health, career skills and housing supports.
To track Kansas’ efforts to address disparities and to understand where investments are most needed, the state should disaggregate juvenile detention data by race and ethnicity as well as location.
We must disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline and support youth who are currently affected. Let your school board members and legislators know that these issues matter and encourage them to act.
About this series
In June 2020, Gov. Laura Kelly signed Executive Order 20-48, forming the Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice. The Commission studied issues of racial equity and justice across systems in Kansas, focusing first on policing and law enforcement and then on economic systems, education, and health care. The Commission developed recommendations for state agencies, the Legislature, and local governments. Through the end of 2022, commissioners will dig deeper into the recommendations in a monthly series.
This opinion piece originally appeared in the Topeka Capital-Journal on July 1, 2022.Gretchen Homan, M.D., is president of the Kansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and former chair of the Immunize Kansas Coalition. David Jordan is president and CEO of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund in Hutchinson.Pictured above is Elise, a Hutchinson teen who has long COVID.
With August around the corner, now’s the time to make sure our kids are protected from COVID-19 when they return to school. As parents, we want the best for our kids. It’s our responsibility to make decisions on their behalf to keep them healthy, safe and in a position to thrive.
We never expected parenting would involve a global pandemic, school closures, remote learning and protecting children who were not eligible for vaccines.
Thankfully, in recent weeks the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made it easier for all parents to protect their children from COVID-19 by authorizing vaccines for children ages 6 months through 4 years and boosters for children ages 5 through 11.
Thanks to established vaccine science, research, rigorous clinical trials, and ongoing safety monitoring, adults have been eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines since December 2020. The results have been amazing — reduced risk of death, severe illness, hospitalization, and spread.
Adults helped us return to “normal,” but kids can keep us there. Children share viruses as easily as they share toys. Kids need protection from COVID-19, just as we protect them from other vaccine-preventable infections.
Following the same process, safe, effective vaccines and boosters have been available for children ages 5 to 17. Over 27 million children ages 5 through 17 have gotten a COVID vaccine.
The vaccines are safe and tested
Early on, we yearned for a return to “normal” and knew a vaccine was critical to achieving that goal. Thanks to established vaccine science, research, rigorous clinical trials, and ongoing safety monitoring, adults have been eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines since December 2020.
The same rigorous authorization process was used for the vaccines for children under 5.
Children can get very sick from COVID-19
Much of what pediatricians do is preventive health care. Vaccines are a crucial part of that. Administered in a moment, vaccines can provide children with lasting protection from devastating illnesses.
Although the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the brain and organs are not entirely clear, we know some people, including children, suffer significant long-term complications that hinder their ability to live full lives. As parents, we should embrace the opportunity to vaccinate our children against COVID-19’s long-term effects.
Elise, a Hutchinson teen, was a healthy 15-year-old when she contracted COVID-19. After her quarantine ended, she returned to school. She didn’t make it through the day. She’d developed long COVID. She had no energy and was short of breath.
Seventeen months later, Elise is still attending school online. She can’t sit up for long periods of time without getting dizzy, and she uses a wheelchair to get around. Thankfully, she recently stopped using supplemental oxygen.
It’s normal to have questions about vaccinating your child. Doctors welcome them. If you have concerns about COVID-19 vaccines, please talk to your child’s doctor. We know appointments go quickly; a good way to prepare is to write your questions down beforehand and bring them with you.
As parents, we both chose to vaccinate our kids against COVID-19. We knew vaccination was critical to preventing illness, keeping them safe, and supporting healthy development.
Previous generations of parents were the first to vaccinate children against measles, rubella, and polio. When our children look back, they’ll realize how important it was for their parents to vaccinate them against COVID-19. Join us in doing everything we can to protect the health and well-being of our children.
You can find a COVID-19 vaccine near you at vaccines.gov or by calling (800) 232-0233.
This commentary originally ran in the Kansas Reflector on June 23, 2022. About the authors: Dr. Tiffany Anderson, superintendent of Topeka USD 501, and Dr. Shannon Portillo, associate dean and professor at the University of Kansas, served as co-chairs of the Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice; David Jordan, president and CEO of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, chaired the subcommittee on healthcare.
Dependable internet access is not an amenity — it’s essential for accessing services today, including health care, work and school. In Kansas, a digital divide separates the “haves” from the “have nots” in terms of devices, digital literacy, and access to high-speed internet. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted digital gaps across our state, especially in internet access in rural and low-income communities and communities of color.
Digital equity is more than a quality-of-life issue; it plays a role in health care. A Federal Communications Commission task force is studying whether broadband connectivity should be considered a social determinant of health. Social determinants of health are the conditions where people live, work, and play that affect their health, such as transportation, neighborhood crime and education. Social determinants account for as much as 80% of a person’s health status. Digital equity may even be a “super” determinant because it affects other determinants — people search online for housing, transportation, and employment.
The Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice examined digital equity, seeking to understand how to address systemic issues that affect health outcomes, community vitality, and access to information and human services. Broadband recommendations to address racial equity were included in the commission’s final report. As we consider broadband policies and investments, we should treat broadband connectivity as a social determinant of health.
In 2020, the state established the Kansas Office of Broadband Development. This department focuses on connecting Kansans, with several investment programs focused on unserved and under-served areas. Multiple programs have been made possible through federal dollars. The commission recommended the state should maximize federal dollars to support broadband development and to increase access for hard-to-reach and vulnerable communities.
Kansas should support and invest in broadband access for all Kansans, but access is not enough. As state and local governments invest in broadband, they should also ensure their work is focused on digital equity.
To bridge the digital divide, Kansans need affordable broadband and appropriate devices, outreach to learn about available programs and digital literacy skills built with the help of culturally competent navigators.
Funds should be used to support digital navigators who help Kansans use online services and set up devices and home internet. The National Digital Inclusion Alliance provides a digital navigator toolkit designed with libraries, health care and other social service agencies in mind.
A major shift during the pandemic has been the increase in accessing health care online.
Many Kansans travel to receive care, must take off work for appointments, or have caregiving duties that make it difficult to visit the doctor. During the pandemic, telehealth services were expanded. Kansans were able to see their providers and specialists remotely, and providers were reimbursed for telehealth visits similarly to in-person visits.
In a statewide voter poll conducted for the REACH Healthcare Foundation and the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, most Kansans (86%) said they support expanding or maintaining telehealth options after the pandemic ends. The poll oversampled Black and Hispanic voters. The study found that when it comes to accessing care, 71% of Kansans of color would prefer to see a doctor or health care professional who comes from their community, speaks their language and looks like them. Telehealth can help bridge that gap.
In a related consumer focus group survey, some patients shared that telehealth allows them to receive care they otherwise would not be able to access, including patients in rural areas who live hours away from specialists. However, others found internet connectivity to be a barrier.
“What frustrated me was the internet connection. While I’m at my parents’ I can FaceTime my son in Saudi Arabia, but I can’t talk to a local doctor 30 miles away. … So that is very frustrating to me to be talking to someone on the other side of the world and I’m not able to contact my local doctor,” said one focus group participant.
Community health workers or other care coordinators can serve as culturally competent digital navigators, helping patients set up their internet and teaching them how to use their personal devices to access telehealth appointments.
Interviews and a survey of Kansas health care providers and administrators found that for telehealth to remain viable, future financial support is needed for system upkeep and visit reimbursement. As a health equity strategy, Kansas should expand telehealth access and codify the regulations that expanded telehealth services.
As a state, we must continue removing barriers to ensure we’re reducing the digital divide, so that more Kansans can access information, health and human services, civic engagement, and educational and employment opportunities.
About this series
In June 2020, Gov. Laura Kelly signed Executive Order 20-48, forming the Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice. The Commission studied issues of racial equity and justice across systems in Kansas, focusing first on policing and law enforcement and then on economic systems, education, and health care. The Commission developed recommendations for state agencies, the Legislature, and local governments. Through the end of 2022, commissioners will dig deeper into the recommendations in a monthly series.
Statement of David Jordan, president and CEO of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, on Governor Kelly’s veto of HB 2387:
“Vetoing this legislation protects Kansas taxpayers and the health of Kansans. Enabling the non-partisan reprocurement process of the state’s $3.9 billion Medicaid managed care contracts to continue as planned ensures our program is able to be designed to best meet the needs of our most vulnerable neighbors. The veto also protects public health. I appreciate Governor Kelly’s leadership in vetoing this bill and for putting Kansans above politics.“
This commentary originally ran in the Kansas Reflector on May 9, 2022. About the authors: Dr. Tiffany Anderson, superintendent of Topeka USD 501, and Dr. Shannon Portillo, associate dean and professor at the University of Kansas, served as co-chairs of the Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice; David Jordan, president and CEO of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, chaired the subcommittee on healthcare.
Investing in the earliest years of a child’s life — through supporting mothers and children — is an evidence-based approach to improving education, economic, health and social outcomes for a person’s entire life.
The Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice examined maternal and child health, early childhood development and child care to understand how to address systemic issues that affect education attainment, economic opportunity and health across Kansas. To address opportunity gaps, the commission’s final report made recommendations in the areas of early education and care and maternal and child health care.
Maternal and child health are early indicators of future public health challenges, which is why it’s critical for mothers and children to have the healthiest start to life. In Kansas, mothers and children of color and from low-income households are more likely to be left behind, making it important to address inequities prenatally.
Addressing disparities can begin earlier with implementation of programs for parents, community members, and providers that focus on birth equity, training providers to avoid implicit bias as part of the birthing process and empowering parents to seek culturally appropriate care. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment should partner with community-based groups like the Kansas Birth Equity Network to offer their evidence-based birth equity training to mothers and families.
The commission recognizes the important role culturally competent providers play in improving care before, during and after pregnancy and recommends Medicaid increase access to culturally competent care by prioritizing recognition and reimbursement of credentialed members of the health care team, such as community health workers, home visitors, doulas and lactation consultants.
One commission recommendation came to fruition thanks to the leadership of Gov. Laura Kelly and the Legislature. Postpartum Medicaid coverage has been extended from 60 days to 12 months, ensuring 9,000 mothers retain access to health care when the mother is still at risk for complications, including pregnancy-related death.
To ensure Medicaid coverage improves health outcomes, the commission recommended broadening Medicaid coverage to include comprehensive maternal benefits. These investments are central to the health of new mothers and babies and recognize that social drivers of health, such as food insecurity, can be addressed by linking Medicaid beneficiaries to nutrition assistance and breastfeeding supports through SNAP and WIC.
Evidence-backed interventions such as home-visiting, early literacy promotion, and robust care coordination would foster optimal child development and strengthen nurturing caregiver-child relationships.
To give a data starting point to track Kansas’ efforts to address disparities, the state should publicly report measures of maternal and child health disaggregated by race and ethnicity as well as service location.
Kansas is one of the states where the uninsured rate for kids is increasing, and it disproportionately affects children of color. The uninsurance rate for Kansas children rose from 4.6% in 2016 to 5.8% in 2019. Kansas could decrease the number of uninsured children by enabling continuous coverage for children ages 0 to 5 and streamlining the eligibility process. Consistent coverage would improve access to regular and timely check-ups.
Investing in early learning and development can have significant return on investment. According to the Heckman equation, investment in and access to high-quality early learning and child care will improve student success and career achievement, especially for our most vulnerable students. It will also reduce state spending on education, health and criminal justice.
The commission often heard that Kansas child care is in crisis. It’s expensive and in short supply.
Kansas could prioritize using American Rescue Plan funds to strengthen the child care system, focusing resources on communities of color and vulnerable communities. Kansas should maximize Child Care Development Funding from the federal government and explore how to increase participation of families and providers in the child care subsidy program. Increased federal funding and use of child care subsidies can strengthen the system and make high-quality child care more accessible.
Through the Kansas Child Day Care Assistance Credit, businesses provide child care or help employees locate it. To improve access to services, Kansas should expand the types of businesses eligible for this credit and eliminate the reduction of benefits that occurs after the first year when covering the cost of on-site care.
The health and well-being of Kansas mothers and children is critical to the health of our state. By making policy changes to support expanded maternal care, and high-quality health care and child care for our youngest Kansans, we can reduce disparities for people of color in our state.
About the series
In June 2020, Governor Laura Kelly signed Executive Order 20-48, forming the Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice. The Commission studied issues of racial equity and justice across systems in Kansas, focusing first on policing and law enforcement and then on economic systems, education, and health care. The Commission developed recommendations for state agencies, the Legislature, and local governments. Through the end of 2022, Commissioners will dig deeper into the Commission’s recommendations in a monthly series.
This opinion piece by Health Fund President David Jordan originally appeared in the Topeka Capital-Journal on April 28, 2022.
Right now, it feels like the COVID pandemic is over.
We’re excited that things are getting back to normal. COVID infections, hospitalizations and deaths are way down. It’s safe enough in most communities to go maskless inside public places. We’re able to watch our kids’ ball games, visit loved ones and see friends more often.
But we’ve already gone back to normal a few times during this pandemic only to be hit by another wave of infections.
The even more contagious BA.2 version of the Omicron variant is fueling another wave of cases in Europe and Asia. Cases are already rising in the United States and parts of Kansas. This is raising concerns that another wave may follow here.
The pandemic has been particularly hard on rural communities. Compared with urban areas, rural areas have endured higher COVID infection and death rates. This is in part because people in rural areas are typically older, more likely to have underlying health conditions and often live far from health care facilities.
Our rural Kansas communities are also less protected because we’re less likely to be vaccinated. Currently, 61% of eligible Kansans are fully vaccinated, compared with the national rate of 66%. Overall, the vaccination rate in rural areas has lagged more urban areas.
Another wave of infections will also put more stress on our already stressed rural health care system. Many rural hospitals face staffing challenges; an influx of patients with COVID makes it harder to provide the care our rural communities need.
Now’s the time to prepare for another possible wave.
Those of us who live in rural communities pride ourselves on taking care of our own. We look out for our neighbors and lend a helping hand when they’re in need. We check on neighbors when they’re ill.
The best way we can help keep one another safe is by getting all the recommended doses of a COVID vaccine. We’re fortunate to have safe COVID vaccines that work really well to prevent serious infections, hospitalizations, and death. Getting vaccinated also helps protect children under 5 who can’t get vaccinated yet and our most vulnerable, immunocompromised neighbors.
Just as important, vaccination allows us to continue living our lives normally with reduced risk of serious illness.
Father Bob Schremmer spent 45 years as a minister in southwest Kansas. That time taught him to be grateful for your neighbors and your community. Schremmer thanks others for getting vaccinated so that those individuals, their families and their communities can be safe. Getting vaccinated is an act of charity that helps protect others who can’t get vaccinated and who rely on us for protection.
It’s normal to have questions about vaccines. Seek information from credible sources, such as your family doctor or other health care provider. They can answer your questions about vaccines and boosters. You can find information about vaccines in your area at vaccines.gov.
Dr. Bob Kraft’s patients in Salina have heard a lot about the COVID vaccines, and they’ve asked a lot of good questions before making their choice to get vaccinated. Kraft says: “I’ll share with you the same thing I do with my patients: The COVID vaccine is safe, tested, and free. It’s the best way for us to get back to normal. Here in Kansas, a vaccine has been reserved for you.”
Fiscal policy changes can begin to make Kansas more racially equitable: examining recommendations from the governor’s commission
This commentary originally ran in the Kansas Reflector on March 30, 2022. About the authors: Dr. Tiffany Anderson, superintendent of Topeka USD 501, and Dr. Shannon Portillo, associate dean and professor at the University of Kansas, served as co-chairs of the Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice; David Jordan, president and CEO of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, chaired the subcommittee on healthcare.
How our state government taxes, spends, and accesses funding demonstrates our values and our commitment to addressing racial equity in Kansas.
The Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice examined federal funding and tax policy, seeking to understand how to address systemic issues that affect education attainment, economic opportunity and health across Kansas. Recommendations to address racial equity through tax policy and maximizing federal funding were included in the commission’s final report.
Kansas ranks 46th in terms of accessing federal funding to support the state budget. Having less federal funding affects our ability to support critical health and safety net services, disproportionately burdening state and local budgets when communities need access to services and restricting access to programs that support health and economic opportunity.
To improve racial equity, Kansas should maximize federal funding.
State restrictions are a barrier to accessing federal funding. Policy changes during the Brownback administration greatly increased restrictions to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Today fewer than 10 out of every 100 Kansas families in poverty are receiving TANF benefits, compared with more than 30 in 100 in 2006. People of color are disproportionately impacted by hunger; SNAP helps low-income households afford groceries. TANF and SNAP benefits provide basic support to families in need. The benefits may be more than financial.
Beyond negatively affecting Kansans, these restrictions increase interaction with the child welfare system, costing the state money. According to a University of Kansas national study, states that enacted similar restrictions as Kansas have seen higher rates of child abuse and foster care cases.
These restrictions should be repealed.
As federal COVID-19 relief dollars come to Kansas, it’s vital that the government entities distributing these funds consider the perspectives of people of color and communities most impacted. Relief funds should be targeted to help those most in need due to the pandemic.
Health equity should be a primary consideration when distributing relief funds. A broad definition of health should be employed, based on the social determinants of health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, these are the “conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health and quality-of life-risks and outcomes.”
Kansas’ failure to expand Medicaid has left more than 150,000 Kansans without access to health care and resulted in more than $5.4 billion in lost federal funding.
The effect of Kansas’ decision not to draw down federal dollars can be seen in our standing in America’s Health Rankings, which has fallen more than any other state in the nation since 1990.
Kansas can maximize federal dollars to improve health outcomes through the state’s Medicaid program, KanCare. The social determinants of health should be a focus as Kansas begins the process of redesigning its Medicaid program during the upcoming contracting process. KanCare can begin addressing inequities by recognizing and paying for culturally competent care teams that include proven community-based providers such as community health workers and doulas. Improvements to patient-centered care teams and delivery models, and innovative models pioneered by other states that have improved health outcomes and reduced disparities should be a priority.
Kansas government entities must examine tax policy to improve racial equity and ensure that our most vulnerable neighbors don’t shoulder the burdens of an unfair tax system built on consumption taxes.
A disproportionate number of low-income individuals are people of color. Some states tax low-income people at higher rates, which can worsen racial inequity. Kansas state and local taxing authorities should collect race and ethnicity data during both tax assessment and tax distribution. The data should be assessed and analyzed to determine the effect of the tax structure on all Kansans.
State and local governments, especially in the criminal justice system, should rely less on fines and fees to fund their work. Governments should seek more equitable funding streams, including drawing down federal funds.
Taxes are rarely fun to talk about, but they are the foundation for how we fund government and services. We must ensure our taxing and budget structures reflect our values as Kansans and help create more equitable communities. The commission’s recommendations offer a path forward, but your time, leadership, and engagement are needed to realize change.
Let’s get to work.
About the series
In June 2020, Governor Laura Kelly signed Executive Order 20-48, forming the Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice. The Commission studied issues of racial equity and justice across systems in Kansas, focusing first on policing and law enforcement and then on economic systems, education, and health care. The Commission developed recommendations for state agencies, the Legislature, and local governments. Through the end of 2022, Commissioners will dig deeper into the Commission’s recommendations in a monthly series.
