United Methodist Health Ministry Fund

06/12/2026

We had the great pleasure of attending a ceremonial bill signing for SB 82 with fellow advocates of this important bill.

SB 82 makes it more enticing and rewarding for businesses to invest in child care in their communities, which helps crease a stabile workforce for businesses and stable childcare for working families.

Thank you to those who helped get this bill passed, as it will help make a positive difference for families and communities across the state. You can learn more about this new bill here: https://healthfund.org/a/new-bill-to-strengthen-child-care-supply-support-workforce-participation/

Those who attended the bill signing with us and who helped support and make this bill a law include: (pictured from left to right) Sen. Chase Blasi; David Jordan, Health Fund; Nancy McCready, Health Fund; Governor Laura Kelly; Sen. Dinah Sykes; Jackie Biggs, Health Fund; Jennifer Bruning, Kansas State Alliance of YMCAs; Kevin Walker, Overland Park Chamber of Commerce; and Rep. Nick Hoheisel.

06/11/2026

Thank you to Congressman Derek Schmidt for taking the time to meet with us this week. We enjoyed the meaningful discussion on how to improve the lives of Kansans.

Ensuring Kansans have access to the care they need remains an important priority. Thank you to Kansans with the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund for coming by my office to discuss rural health funding and expanding access to quality healthcare across Kansas.

06/09/2026

Happy one-year workiversary to our Program Officer Jackie Biggs! Jackie has been a wonderful addition to our team, and we're incredibly thankful to work alongside her every day.

06/05/2026

🎙Our latest episode of Pioneers in Health is now out!🎙

In this episode, we chat with Elliot Regenstein, a partner at Foresight Law + Policy. He has extensive experience in state-level policy and advocacy, with a particular focus on early learning. He also has consulted with more than two dozen states on a wide range of education policy topics.

Check it out!

🔊 LISTEN NOW:
https://healthfund.org/a/pih-elliot-regenstein/

05/29/2026

Grateful for those who joined us today as the governor signed SB 82.

This bill will make the state's Child Day Care Assistance Tax Credit simpler, more generous and easier to use.

Thanks to this bill, the changes will increase the value of the employer child care tax credit, raise the annual cap credit and include a three-year carry forward, and expand eligible uses to benefit more families.

These updates will allow employers to strengthen the local child care supply, support workforce participation and contribute to a more stable economy.

Thank you to the governor and legislators who made this happen. This is a great win for child care in Kansas!

(Official photo from the governor's office coming soon!)

05/28/2026

🎙️Have you checked out our latest episode of Pioneers in Health?🎙️

Meet Robert Stiles, chief executive officer at Community Care Network of Kansas. Learn how he went from aspiring to be an attorney to finding a fulfilling career in health care.

05/21/2026

🎙Our latest episode of Pioneers in Health is now out!🎙

Meet Robert Stiles, chief executive officer at Community Care Network of Kansas. Learn how he went from aspiring to be an attorney to finding a fulfilling career in health care.

🔊LISTEN NOW:
https://healthfund.org/a/pih-robert-stiles/

05/15/2026

We had an incredible time at our annual awards ceremony last week. Thank you to everyone who attended and helped celebrate this year's award winners!

🥇Dr. Robert Kraft received the Kim Moore Visionary Leadership Award

🥇Kelly Davydov, of Daydelys LLC, and Dr. Jennifer Francois, of Kansas State University, received the Janet Sevier Gilbreath Special Project Recognition Award

05/12/2026

We had such a great time connecting, learning and sharing with others at our recent Healthy Congregations retreat!

05/08/2026

🎙Our newest episode of the Pioneers in Health podcast is now available!🎙

In this episode, we chat with Sherman Smith, editor in chief of the Kansas Reflector.

He shares how his love for news began at a very young age. He would arrive at school early and use the time to read the newspaper in the library.

“I was one of those weird kids who was really interested in current events and paid attention to the news,” he said.

He begged his mom for a subscription to Newsweek. When he went off to college at Emporia State University, he got a job as a sports reporter for the college newspaper. And, thus, his career in journalism began.

🔊LISTEN NOW:
https://healthfund.org/a/pih-sherman-smith/