The Pathways initiative known as Pathways to a Healthy Kansas combines community-wide evidence-based solutions and promising practices for improving active living, healthy eating, and tobacco prevention to make a large impact across multiple sectors in communities. The program provides community coalitions with the tools and resources needed to engage their communities and remove barriers to healthy living. Pathways started in 2016 with eight communities and expanded to 16 communities in 2017. In 2020, the Pathways initiative started a second phase of work with a total of 24 communities – 12 new and 12 returning communities from across the BCBSKS service area.
Three risk factors – physical inactivity, poor nutrition and tobacco use – lead to four of the leading causes of chronic disease resulting in 80 percent of the deaths in the United States. Increasing physical activity, eating healthy and avoiding tobacco are among the best ways to lower risk for developing chronic diseases and to live healthier, longer. These are the factors Pathways is designed to address in communities.
Many paths must come together to make real, sustainable change in a community. That’s why grantees are required to generate cross-sector engagement. During the first phase of the initiative, communities focused on these seven pathways: community policy, community well-being, food retail, health care, restaurants, schools and worksites.
In phase two, community pathways are designed to help the coalition take a holistic, community-wide approach to improving health outcomes by addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH). Social determinants are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age that fundamentally affect a wide range of health outcomes and risk (CDC). Pathways align with the Kaiser Family Foundation’s framework for the social determinants of health and focus on areas that impact community health across multiple factors: Community & Social Context, Neighborhood & Physical Environment, Food, Healthcare, Education, and Economic Stability. By using this framework for each pathway, this initiative will strive to improve conditions that are the drivers of health in a community. Coalitions select a package, or group of packages from each pathway below to work on throughout the four-year grant period.
The Pathways to a Healthy Kansas encourages community coalitions to identify the strategies that will work best for their residents and community culture, taking into account how their projects impact populations of focus and raising up those voices to advance health equity and improve the overall health of their community. Use the map below to learn more about each of our grantees.
Select an area below to learn more about what each community coalition is doing.
Atchison County
Live Well Live Atchison
Round 1 2016-2020
Hoisington and Northern Barton County
Health for Life Coalition
Round 1 2016-2020
Bourbon County
The Healthy Bourbon County Action Team
Round 1 2016-2020
Crawford County
Live Well Crawford County
Round 1 2016-2020
Franklin County
Live Healthy Franklin County
Round 1 2016-2020
Kearny County
Kearny County Wellness Coalition
Round 1 2016-2020
Reno County
Heal Reno County
Round 1 2016-2020
Wichita County
AIM Coalition
Round 1 2016-2020
Chanute
Energize Chanute
Round 2 2017-2020
Cowley County
RISE Cowley
Round 2 2017-2020
Dickinson County
Quality of Life Coalition
Round 2 2017-2020
Geary County
Live Well Geary County
Round 2 2017-2020
Harvey County
Healthy Harvey Coalition
Round 2 2017-2020
Lyon County
Healthier Lyon County
Round 2 2017-2020
Seward County
Liberal Area Coalition for Families
Round 2 2017-2020
Cheyenne, Rawlins and Thomas Counties
LiveWell Northwest Kansas
Round 2 2017-2020
City of Columbus
Partnership for All Cherokee County Children
Phase 2 2019-2020
Plainville
Plainville Wellness Coalition
Phase 2 2019-2020
Barber County
Barber County United
Phase 2 2019-2020
Douglas County
LiveWell Douglas County
Phase 2 2019-2020
Grant County
IMPACT Ulysses
Phase 2 2019-2020
Jewell and Mitchell Counties
NCK Health Collaborative
Phase 2 2019-2020
Labette and Montgomery Counties
Grow Labette and Montgomery County Wellness Coalition
Phase 2 2019-2020
Norton County
Live.Well.Norton
Phase 2 2019-2020
Riley County
Flint Hills Wellness Coalition
Phase 2 2019-2020
Saline County
Live Well Saline County
Phase 2 2019-2020
Shawnee County
Heartland Healthy Neighborhoods
Phase 2 2019-2020
Wilson County
Stay Strong, Live Long Wilson County
Phase 2 2019-2020
Select a community from the list below to learn what each coalition is doing.
Round 1 recipients
(2016-2020)
Round 2 recipients
(2017-2020)
Phase 2 recipients
(2019-2020)
Round 1 recipients
also in phase 2
Round 2 recipients
also in phase 2