PUBLIC POLICY AGENDA

YOUTH OPPORTUNITY

Every youth deserves the opportunity to reach their full potential.

• Increase access to affordable, high-quality childcare and early education programs.
• Increase investments in early childhood education to provide training, certification, and equitable compensation for early childhood education workers.
• Support strategies and initiatives aimed at improving student mental health and well-being.
• Enhance early literacy through effective strategies, including Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library promotion and parent engagement efforts.

HEALTHY COMMUNITY

Everyone deserves the opportunity to live their healthiest life.

• Strengthen access to mental health care and behavioral health services, including substance use treatment and suicide prevention.
• Protecting and maintaining a robust Medicaid program, and supporting Medicaid expansion to support low to moderate income working families, including ALICE (Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed).
• Protecting and strengthening the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Child Nutrition Programs, including in the Farm Bill and state budgeting.
• Increasing access to healthier foods by addressing food deserts.

FINANCIAL SECURITY

Everyone deserves the opportunity to earn a living that sustains a family and builds security for future generations.

• Strengthening income support programs that help individuals and families become self-sustaining, such as safe and affordable housing, child care assistance, weatherization, and food assistance.
• Strengthen the childcare sector and ensure more families have access to reliable, affordable, high-quality child care.
• Expand quality, affordable, and stable housing. Increasing funding for programs that provide broader housing options for lower-income Kansans.
• Expanding and strengthening programs that directly address homelessness in our communities.
• Strengthen tax credits and tax assistance to support ALICE workers: Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and VITA program.

COMMUNITY RESILIENCY

Every community deserves the knowledge and resources to be resilient.

• Strengthen the capacity of the Kansas nonprofit sector and improve partnerships between government and nonprofits.
• Ensure adequate state funding for health and human services and other critical programs.
• Maintain and improve the effectiveness and reach of the 211 Information and Referral to better connect communities and people to services.
• Address barriers that prevent all Kansas communities from thriving and promote policies and practices that support fairness, respect, and opportunity for all.
• Promote volunteerism and charitable giving in our state.
• Strengthen disaster response funding and infrastructure across our state, including disaster preparedness and cross-sector coordination.