Health Forward Foundation

This year's Board Retreat took us to Iola, Kansas. We spent the day with our funded partners in Allen County gaining firsthand insight into the meaningful progress unfolding across the region.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us: Mayor Steve French; Thrive Allen County Executive Director and Health Forward Board Member Lisse Regehr; Trevor E. Brown, coauthor of Rural Versus Urban: The Growing Divide That Threatens Democracy; and our Allen County funded partners who opened their doors and shared their work including Beth Barlow, B&W Trailer Hitches; Jeff Keithly, Allen County Regional Transit; Lisse Regehr, Thrive Allen County, and Jason Wesco, Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas

Our team left with sharper focus, stronger alignment, and bold priorities for the year ahead - and a renewed sense of why this work matters.

On August 4, Missourians will vote on a measure that, if passed, would upend the citizen-initiated constitutional amendment process.

"Individual congressional districts, representing as few as 7% of the state’s total voters, would have the power to block measures that receive clear majority support statewide."

Published in the Kansas City Star this morning, Health Forward’s McClain Bryant Macklin, chief policy and impact officer, connects the dots between civic participation and public health, warning of the threat Amendment 4 poses.

Currently, a statewide majority vote is enough to pass a ballot measure in Missouri. Amendment 4 would change the law to require a majority in all eight of Missouri’s congressional districts to pass. Vote ‘no’ to protect our ability to keep politicians accountable to the people they represent.

Link to the full article in the comments below.