Each year around this time, families get together and ask each other the age-old question: “What are you grateful for?” For kids, this question may elicit a quick, almost knee-jerk response (family, friends, toys, etc.), but for adults, this question gives more pause.
 
The world around us can feel grim at times, and sometimes a break in our daily lives is needed in order to see true joy. This holiday season, as KC Healthy Kids remembers the previous year and reflects on our joy, there is one clear answer: all of you.
 
On Giving Tuesday, we want to show our appreciation for the people and organizations and our community partners who have shared their time, talents and financial resources this year. With your support, we can continue to connect communities to close health gaps for kids throughout our region.

Photo: ​MMGY helped our staff get Splitlog Farm ready for the fall season.

KC Healthy Kids seeks board members to help us expand our reach and bring about widespread changes that create a culture of health in our region.

We believe every child deserves to grow up in a healthy community with clean parks, safe playgrounds, walkable neighborhoods, bike friendly streets, school and community gardens, farm to school lunches, neighborhood grocery stores, farmers markets, high-quality mental health services, and accessible healthcare. Unfortunately, many of Kansas City’s children do not have access to these features, and the immediate and long-term implication is that this generation of children may be the first that won’t live as long as their parents.

To address this, KC Healthy Kids mobilizes community advocates to speak out for healthier neighborhoods and we support their efforts to make their vision a reality. We help leaders in government, schools and communities make the connection between their decisions and the health of children.

Do your values align with ours? Put your skills and talents to use as you support the work of KC Healthy Kids, helping raise funds and providing mission-based leadership, strategic governance.  

As a member of our board, you can grow your professional network as you connect with other members, staff and representatives at our many partnering organizations. We love to see you bring your friends and family along for special events or volunteer opportunities, too! 

KC Healthy Kids board members serve a three-year term and may be eligible for reappointment for up to two additional terms. Board meetings are held bi-monthly and committee meetings are held during opposite months.

Ideal candidates will have the following qualification:

• Leadership accomplishments in business, government, philanthropy, or the nonprofit sector with extensive professional and/or community networks
• Diplomatic skills and a natural affinity for cultivating relationships and persuading, convening, facilitating, and building consensus among diverse individuals
• Personal qualities of integrity, credibility and a passion for improving the lives of children and families
• Commitment to developing and maintaining a diverse, multicultural board and staff environment that reflects the communities we serve

To apply, please contact Markesia Tatum at mtatum@kchealthykids.org for details.

Photos: Jenny Pearson and Crystal Hart-Johnson help out at KC Healthy Kids' Kid Zone at the Eat Local and Organic Expo.

Throughout November, you can support KC Healthy Kids when you shop at The Merc in KCK or Lawrence and tell them to round up!

When shoppers round up to the nearest dollar, donate online, donate their reusable bag refund or drop spare change into the jars at the Lawrence store, the Merc will give 100% of those donations to KC Healthy Kids.

The Merc Co+op in KCK has been a great partner to KC Healthy Kids since the KCK store opened in 2020. Here are some examples:

• Provided space in their parking lot for farmers to distribute produce purchased at our 2021 Expo, which was completely virtual
• Have been distributing our recipe cards at their register and info table since November 2022
• Donated grocery bags for our CSA distribution
• Provided use of their community kitchen as a meeting space for the Greater KC Food Policy Coalition.

 
How You Can Help
The more people who shop and round up during November, the more The Merc will be able to donate. We'd be so grateful for any help you can give!

• Share KC Healthy Kids’ posts on Instagram and Facebook, forward emails and other communications related to the fundraiser
• Volunteer to join our staff at the store to tell people about our work
• Shop at The Merc and round up to the nearest dollar, bring your own bag and donate the refund, donate online at or in Lawrence, drop your psare change into the jars at the registers.

​Locations
Downtown KCK
501 Minnesota
Kansas City, KS 66101
Open daily 8 a.m.–9 p.m.

Lawrence
901 Iowa St
Lawrence, KS 66044
​Open daily 7 a.m. - 10 p.m.

You don't have to write a big check to make a big difference for Kansas City's communities. Here are some little things you can do to help connect communities to close health gaps. 

With your help, our solution-based work related to local food, food policy, mental health, youth advocates and active communities has impacted the lives of thousands of kids in the Kansas City metro area. Here are some stories of our impact.

1. Make a monthly gift. Monthly donations in any amount add up to make a big difference for kids and their communities. Set it up

2. Give when you shop with Amazon. If you shop with Amazon, you can help KC Healthy Kids' fundraising efforts! It just takes a simple switch to AmazonSmile. Amazon tracks purchases and automatically sends KC Healthy Kids a check based on qualified transactions. On your mobile phone, open the Amazon Shopping App, navigate to the main menu and select Amazon Smile. Please select KC Healthy Kids, Kansas City, Kansas and then follow the on-screen instructions to turn ON AmazonSmile in the mobile app. Follow these steps to set it up on your web browser.

1. Visit smile.amazon.com
2. Sign in with the same account you use for Amazon.com
3. Please select KC Healthy Kids, Kansas City, Kansas.
4. Start shopping! Remember to checkout at smile.amazon.com to generate donations for your chosen charity.
5. Tip: Add a bookmark to make it easier to shop at smile.amazon.com.

3. Get your friends involved with a Facebook fundraiser
You can use Facebook to raise money for KC Healthy Kids. ​When you make a post, just click the three dots in the "Add to your post" box to find "Raise Money." Type KC Healthy Kids into the search box and Facebook will walk you through the rest. You don't have to do another thing! Facebook will collect donations and send us a check. We WOULD love to know of your kind effort to raise money and spread the word about KC Healthy Kids, if you're so inclined. 

4. Donate Your Birthday
Another great way to show your Facebook friends and family that KC Healthy Kids matters to you is to ask for donations in celebration of your birthday (or any special day). Go to Facebook Fundraisers and select KC Healthy Kids. Follow the prompts to publish and share the fundraiser.

The epidemic of violence in this country is a public health crisis. It shatters families and impacts our sense of safety and overall health and well-being, including the ways we access food, physical activity, community, school and work.

KC Healthy Kids emphatically condemns and remains committed to confronting violence and oppression which create barriers for many who want to access the community-based solutions KC Healthy Kids promotes: youth advocacy, mental health, good food policy, local food, and active communities.

As we work to advance the health and well-being of kids and their communities, we strive to recognize and support the incredible resilience communities demonstrate in the face of violence and to remember to start by listening

Here are some things we’re doing now. We’ve provided links so you can learn more and take action too. 

• Teaching trauma-informed care. We support early care and education centers located in communities disproportionately impacted by violence by providing trauma-informed care education for staff and teachers. And provide stipends for parents to attend. Learn More
• Advocating for safe, equitable communities. We support BikeWalkKC’s advocacy efforts to decriminalize walking and biking, such as proposed ordinance 210100 in Kansas City, Missouri. Ticketing for pedestrian offenses like jaywalking and dirty bicycle wheels should end. Read the ordinance and testimony from various groups, including KC Healthy Kids. Contact Michael Kelley at  to learn more.
• Speaking out against “public charge.” We engaged advocates in defeating the public charge rule change which would have impacted food security and well-being in immigrant communities.  Learn more. 
• Using our words with care. We’re continually updating our editorial guidelines with up-to-date best practices for inclusive language based on these resources published by journalists and advocacy groups.  

We cannot advance the health and well-being of kids and their communities — our mission — if we do not address systemic racism and White supremacy culture.
 
This work starts within our agency. We understand that it is possible to do harm unintentionally, even when we believe we are doing good. Further, we understand that although our work has always aimed to further equity, we have also been complicit in systemic racism by, for example: failing to examine how the structure of our initiatives can privilege White voices and interests, failing to consistently and explicitly name policies and systems as racist when they have disparate impacts, and failing to challenge inequities in how nonprofits are funded. 
 
We want to do better. In our statement issued on June 6, 2020, we committed to doing so in at least 4 ways. In this, our second statement, we describe how we are following through on this commitment. We are preparing additional updates which will explore the many ways we are taking action in yet more detail. 
 
The urgency and impact of racial injustice in our work demands both immediate action and lasting efforts. We are therefore making a durable commitment to this work by evaluating and updating the guiding documents, including: Employee Handbook, Finance Manual, Strategic Plan and others to include specific policies, methods and goals for building an anti-racist agency culture and improving racial equity within our agency and through our initiatives. 
 
This is not a one time commitment; it includes annually defining the tactics, milestones and frequency for strategies outlined below. We will complete the first round of this process by year end, 2020. 
 
Learn: Increase staff and board knowledge and skills, and build an anti-racist agency culture committed to advancing racial equity.

• Require participation in regular trainings provided by experts, including those who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), no less than three times annually.
• Support participation in cultural competency coalition(s) and trainings in the community. 
• Encourage participation in organizations which provide training, resources and accountability for racial justice. For example, Showing Up For Racial Justice
• Invite staff and board members to share relevant resources and information at staff meetings and through all-staff communications. 
• Ensure that our contracting practices, including for trainers, advance racial equity and center BIPOC leaders.
• Create safe spaces for difficult conversations. We can and must do difficult things. 

Assess: Conduct self-assessments and accountable evaluations to understand, monitor and adapt our efforts at advancing racial equity.   

• Engage staff in completing an annual equity audit, such as this one at We Are Beloved.
• Identify methods for evaluating initiatives through a racial equity lens, including how we will engage staff, board members, contractors, partners, stakeholders and clients (including people who are BIPOC) those efforts. For example, completing the National Farm to School Network Equity Assessment Tool and encouraging partners to do the same. 
• Identify tools for individual self-assessment for use by staff. 

Action: Identify short- and long-term actions for us as an organization, and in our initiatives which: 

• Seek equitable engagement and leadership of people who are BIPOC in our initiatives and governance.
• Ensure initiatives and communications advance racial equity and identify racist policies and systems as such.   
• Improve our accountability. 
• Encourage our partners and supporters to engage in this work in their own agencies and as individuals. 
• Build anti-racist culture, such as creating safe pathways for feedback.  

 
Although some of this work will take months to complete, and nearly all of it will be ongoing, we have already begun to take action. Here are a few highlights about those efforts, which we’ll expand upon in forthcoming articles. 

• From the very start, the food and agricultural systems in our nation have relied on land theft from, and economic and physical exploitation of those who are BIPOC. This remains true today, and harms caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, subsequent recession and policy responses are even more acute for the BIPOC workers who grow, harvest, process, prepare and serve our food. As we pivot to address these challenges, we are seeking advice and leadership from BIPOC communities and BIPOC-led organizations confronting racism in the food and agriculture system. Read 6 Action items for racial equity to learn more and take action.
• We’ve always sought to oppose policies that create health and economic disparities. As we have begun to examine our initiatives with fresh eyes, we are finding ways to do that more effectively. This includes explicitly naming policies as racist when they are at odds with racial equity. It also includes examining how to ensure that our initiatives help others to identify racism in systems and policies. With this in mind, we have begun to update youth advocacy tools to help kids see connections between racism, policies and health disparities, and will equip them to speak out for changes that improve health outcomes not just for their own community but for every child in Kansas City. 
• As a core partner of the National Farm to School Network, we completed their Racial and Social Equity Assessment Tool for Farm to School Programs and Policy. The tool was designed to advance the network’s racial and social equity priority by increasing our understanding of the work in the context of structural, institutional, and interpersonal racism. As a result of that process, we increased engagement of BIPOC communities in the program.  

We invite our partners and supporters to join us in this journey by using the links included in each of the preceding actions, and staying tuned as we post additional progress updates and calls to action. Our collective progress and growth is essential to our ability to advance equity.  

KC Healthy Kids shares the sadness, frustration and outrage expressed by protesters over the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis Police custody, as well as other Black people who have met similar fates throughout the nation, including in our community. These events are not isolated; they are part of four centuries of violent and systemic racism in our nation. We stand with civil rights leaders in calling for significant reforms needed to achieve racial, economic and health equity.
 
We know that words of sympathy and solidarity are meaningless without concrete action. In order to confront and dismantle pervasive racism, we must adapt and grow, as an agency and as individuals.
 
We are looking at all of the ways we operate our agency, our programs and our policy efforts. Each member of our staff is being encouraged to give input based on their unique roles and perspectives. Then we’ll take time to thoughtfully evaluate what is needed in our organization and what we are well-positioned to contribute amidst the current crises and going forward.
 
In the following week, we’ll post an article detailing ways in which we are taking action to match our words, and will identify actions our partners and supporters can take as well.
 
Here is our commitment: We will…
 
…Seek out and listen to the advice, perspectives and leadership of people of color and ensure effectiveness and accountability as we continue critical self-assessment.
…Continue to foster a culture where staff can respectfully discuss racial equity and hold each other accountable, while recognizing it’s not the job of team members who are Black or People of Color to teach White peers how to be better.
…We’ve always fought against policies that create health and economic disparities. Now we’ll explicitly identify them as racist.
…Encourage our partners and supporters to make a similar commitment. We say to you: your progress and growth is essential to our collective ability to advance equity. Let’s make this a part of every project we enter into together.
 
We are working to be better. For those who want to do the same, here are some excellent resources:
 

• Black Lives Matter 
• NAACP: We are done dying
• Showing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ)
• 5 Anti-Racist Actions for White People to Take During COVID — 19
• Activism & Allyship Guide Prepared by the Black@ Airbnb Employee Resource Group