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Participate in a Community Listening Session What determines how well and how long you live? Would it surprise you to know that, even in Johnson County, where you live matters? If you are a Johnson County resident, join us on March 21 at 1:30pm for an hour-long conversation about how you experience health and quality of life. The event is a part of the planning process for the Johnson County Health Equity Network - a UCS' facilitated initiative to address health disparities in Johnson County. Creating health equity ensures that everyone who lives in Johnson County has a fair opportunity ...

Participate in a Community Listening Session What determines how well and how long you live? Would it surprise you to know that, even in Johnson County, where you live matters? If you are a Johnson County resident, join us on March 21 at 1:30pm for an hour-long conversation about how you experience health and quality of life. The event is a part of the planning process for the Johnson County Health Equity Network - a UCS' facilitated initiative to address health disparities in Johnson County. Creating health equity ensures that everyone who lives in Johnson County has a fair opportunity ...

Health Insurance Coverage in Johnson County Access to health insurance has been an important policy topic for many years. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2013, the proportion of residents throughout the country, state of Kansas, and Johnson County who have insurance has steadily increased. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, almost 95% of Johnson County residents have health insurance. However, that leaves more than 31,000 people in our community without the critical coverage that they need to see a doctor when they get sick, pay for prescription medications, and receive the ...

Celebrating and Learning from Black History Month Julie Brewer, UCS Executive Director Today marks the beginning of Black History Month and this year's theme is African Americans in Times of War, which commemorates the centennial of the end of the First World War in 1918 and looks at the role of African Americans in every war. A decade ago, I had the chance to have lunch with Civil Rights Movement icon and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Representative John Lewis of Georgia.  I asked him about the march from Selma to Montgomery he helped lead and the attack on the Edmund Pettus ...

For January 25th eNews Next Step KC 2018 Community Tax Day Today is the Last Day to Submit Concerns about KanCare 2.0 The federal government is accepting public comment on KanCare 2.0.  Alliance for a Healthy Kansas has a link to register your concerns:http://www.expandkancare.com/a/kancare-2-0-is-not-ready-for-prime-time/ Earlier this month, Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee Chairwoman Vicki Schmidt, and Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Carolyn McGinn expressed concerns with the implementation of KanCare 2.0 "After careful consideration regarding the discussion that took place during the Public Health and Welfare Committee, we are ...

Johnson County Prepares for 2018 Homelessness Point-in-Time Count Each year, Johnson County's Continuum of Care on Homelessness (CoC) conducts a count of persons experiencing homelessness in the county to better understand how many are experiencing homelessness, their households' characteristics and identify local gaps in housing and supports. As the CoC's lead agency, UCS works each year with its partner organizations to collect and compile the data to better serve some of the community's most vulnerable households. In 2018, data will be collected on where households slept on Tuesday January 23, 2018. The purpose of the Point-in-Time Count is to enumerate ...

Thank you for helping to Celebrate 50 Years of UCS As 2017 comes to a close, the staff and volunteers of UCS would like to take a moment of reflection and thanks.  This year we celebrated 50 years of serving our community.  Thanks to your support and generosity, we were able to raise more than $50,000 through our 50th Anniversary fundraising efforts.  These funds allow UCS to continue its work in community collaboration, education, and advocacy.  Your support is an investment in our next 50 years. UCS Kansas Public Policy Forum Summary and Materials This year's forum looked at issues ...

Kansas Public Policy Forum Focus - Health Equity & Federal Budget's Impact on States This week's Kansas Public Policy Forum, hosted by UCS, Community Health Council of Wyandotte County (CHC) and United Way of Greater Kansas City, convened 15 state legislators from Johnson and Wyandotte counties as well as local elected officials, county and city staff, health and human service agencies, health foundation grant makers, community advocates, educators, and residents. UCS Executive Director Julie Brewer and CHC Executive Director Jerry Jones began the forum discussing issues that impact health in Johnson and Wyandotte counties such as poverty, lack of health ...

Make Your Gift Today Goodbye Cyber Monday - Hello Giving Tuesday, November 28! Are you a part of #GivingTuesdayKC? It's a global day of giving, happening right here in Kansas City! Your gift today to UCS allows us to continue our mission of education and advocacy, mobilizing and planning, and targeted resource allocation.  UCS strives to create greater public understanding of needs and enhanced community advocacy.  Additionally, UCS works to make measurable improvements in the health and human service system, and ensure alignment between resources and needs. UCS is a leader in collaborative planning and believes convening and facilitating work ...