Page 3 - Kansas Appleseed Case Statement 2021
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ADVOCACY Summer Food Service Programs (SFSP)
Advocating for fair and just policies and are a key to that success, and Kansas
Appleseed played a role in increasing
laws is at the heart of Kansas Appleseed’s SFSP sites -- there are 70% more summer
mission. Our advocacy efforts extend to meal sites today than five years ago. In
all levels of government as we work to addition, our work helped extend SNAP
make systems work better for Kansans. maximum food assistance benefits
These efforts often take years to come to for three months, which meant 60,000
fruition, but working with elected officials, Kansans in poverty had access to healthy
community leaders, and other advocates, meals for an additional 90 days.
Kansas Appleseed has seen success in
recent years.
LITIGATION
For more than two years, Kansas With a full-time litigation director, Kansas
Appleseed advocated for the Appleseed is able to take its advocacy to
establishment of the Division of the Child
Advocate, an independent state office that the next level. Most notably, working with
would provide oversight of the foster care a team of state and national partners, we
system. Despite tremendous bipartisan were successful in our lawsuit against the
support, the legislature did not pass a bill State of Kansas to fix the broken foster
to establish the office. Finally, in October care system. The resulting settlement is
2021, Governor Laura Kelly signed an a tremendous victory for thousands of
executive order to create the Division of children in the foster care system now and
the Child Advocate. In her signing remarks,
Governor Kelly recognized Kansas in the future. Children no longer sleep in
Appleseed’s efforts in the office’s creation. offices or move to different homes every
night. Now they have access to mental
Too many Kansans experience hunger, health services to help mitigate the trauma
and Kansas Appleseed has been engaged they’ve experienced.
in creating policies that better support
families. Working with school districts, Kansas Appleseed is currently the
community groups, partner organizations, plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging voter
and our 2,800 member Hunger Action suppression laws passed during the 2021
Team, we work to interpret policies and
seek changes when laws and policies legislative session, and we are co-counsel
harm Kansans. Kansas Appleseed works with the ACLU Kansas to challenge the
to reduce hunger and ensure that every constitutionality of the gang database by
Kansan has three healthy meals a day. the Wichita Police Department.
