Events

Wesley McKain (Community Health Division Supervisor Unified Government Public Health Department) and Juliann VanLiew (Planning and Operations Division Manager Unified Government Public Health Department) will present on the Wyandotte County Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).  The CHIP is a 5 year plan that brings together cross-sector partners to attack the social determinants of health, including: health access, jobs/education, violence prevention, safe/affordable housing.

Interested in learning more? Click on this link for the CHIP dashboard. 

Alex Martinez, Safe and Welcoming Field Organizer, American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas) will present on their efforts to organize support for a Municipal ID program in Wyandotte County, which is a city (or municipal) identification card that can help the immigrant community, the elderly, the homeless, and people re-entering society after incarceration obtain a photo ID that may be used with law enforcement and to access basic services.    

About Alex: Alex Martinez joined the ACLU of Kansas in May of 2018 as the Safe and Welcome Field Organizer. Prior to coming to the ACLU, Alex was a Community Health Worker (CHW) for the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences where he provided direct services to underserved populations through their outreach program, Score 1 for Health. Alex Martinez received a Community Health Worker certificate from MCC Penn Valley in 2015.  Alex is a graduate of the Dental Champions Fellowship from Oral Health Kansas Inc. where he now serves on the Board of Directors.

Laura Loyacono, Director of Community and Education Engagement with Kansas State University, will talk about building opportunities to bring more multilingual, multicultural Wyandotte County kids into the health professions.

Dr. Sheila McGreevy, MD, FACP, an internist with KU Health System and Board Chair of the Kansas City Medical Society Foundation, will talk about taking care of the uninsured in KCK and beyond.

Mayra Aguirre, Vice President at Hall Family Foundation, and Board Member of the Hispanic Development Fund, will share her personal insights about the importance of higher education for Latino high school students.

Irene Caudillo, President and CEO of El Centro, will talk about her role on, and the work of, the Governor’s Council on Education, and its implications for KCK schools, students and employers. 

Mayor David Alvey will present his second State of the Unified Government address on Tuesday, May 14, 2019, at the Reardon Center.  This annual event, hosted by the Kansas City, Kansas Rotary Club, will begin with a buffet luncheon at 11:30 am, with the meeting and Mayor's remarks to begin at Noon.

Tickets are $26 for non-Rotary members and can be purchased by contacting: acampos@wycokck.org

 Marian Ramirez and Valeria Salinas, from Juntos, will speak about the impact of Juntos in our Wyandotte County community as well as their efforts across the state of Kansas. Juntos accomplishes its work through research, training, community partnerships and service. The main goal is to develop a comprehensive sustainable program at University Kansas Medical Center, fully integrated with the Latino community in Kansas that will both improve the health of the community and advance the field of health services research.

Mariana Ramirez, LSMW, is the Director of Juntos. She oversees a growing number of programs in partnership with several departments at the University of Kansas Medical Center and other health-care and community-based partner organizations. She has served as a smoking cessation counselor at the University of Kansas Hospital inpatient program and has provided counseling support and supervision for electronic smoking cessation case management. She is experienced in the implementation of bi-national initiatives between KUMC and Mexico through the Ventanilla de Salud program and NIH-funded research studies in partnership with the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) in Mexico. In addition, Ms. Ramírez has served as a therapist at KUMC’s Bull Doc high school-based clinic and is experienced on training an engagement of promotoras de salud working with under-served communities in chronic disease prevention. She works leading core administrative functions at Juntos including recruitment, implementation, and evaluation of several research studies. She assists with daily operations management, fiscal monitoring, and staff training and supervision. Ms. Ramírez is actively involved in the Kansas City community and participates in different boards and organizations such as Health Partnership Clinic FQHC, Diabetes Prevention Collaborative, and Hispanic Collaborative’s Latinos of Tomorrow. Ms. Ramírez loves singing and dancing with her children and spending time with her family at the lake.

Valeria Salinas, Medical Student, was raised in Chicago, Illinois and attended medical school at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, in Pachuca, Hidalgo. After completing the core curriculum she spent a year in the General Hospital of the City of Pachuca completing her clinical electives. Currently she is completing a one-year social service internship working with JUNTOS-Center for Advancing Latino Health. She assists in ongoing community-based research studies, such as the Latino Immigrant Health project and the JUNTOS Against Cancer initiative. Additionally, Ms. Salinas coordinates Juntos Diabetes Prevention Program, one of only four CDC-certified programs in the state of Kansas. Whe also supports the JUNTOS Taking Down Tobacco initiative at F.L. Schlagle High School empowering ESL students to advocate against tobacco use among their peers. Ms. Salinas’ goal is to serve vulnerable communities as an emergency medicine physician.  

Come hear from KC Film Commissioner, Steph Scupham, about the efforts she leads to help make the Kansas City region a thriving film production center. 

Steph's Bio:

Steph Scupham has a role of a lifetime as Kansas City’s Film Commissioner. She was raised in St. Louis and started college at Bradley University in Theatre and Voice before transferring to the University of Kansas, graduating with Communications degree with Film Emphasis. 

She is passionate about spreading a vision of a thriving Kansas City production industry and advocating for the vision's reality. She currently serves as a board member of the Kansas City Arts Industry Sector Council as well as Co-VP of the statewide education and advocacy organization Missouri Motion Media Association. In the past she has been on the board of Kansas City Film Festival International and for many years was a regional Emmy judge.

Since establishing the KC Film Office after a 10-year absence (re-opened October 2014), she has led efforts to bring in and give assistance to hundreds of film, TV and commercial productions – including NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” (twice since she started in this role), Netflix series “Queer Eye” and the Cannes award-winning film “American Honey.” Steph organized the first Script to Screen show and tell at Maker Faire KC, sponsored the first ever bi-city film competition - KC vs Chattanooga “Capture – A Filmmaking Project,” and represents the region at annual events and festivals like AFCI Locations Expo in LA, Sundance Film Festival and annual industry meet-ups in Los Angeles and New York.

She collaborated with the City of Kansas City to architect the city’s first ever local film incentive, making KC the first city in America to create a local incentive without also having a state incentive.

She has a husband, Sam, a beautiful bonus kid, Cassie, and one hilarious dog, Tater who has his own Insta @TaterTotJones_KCdog.