Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas improving the health of Kansans through community grant initiative

TOPEKA, Kansas (Jan. 16, 2025) – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas (BCBSKS) announces it has selected 19 communities in Kansas as grantees for the next cycle of the Pathways to a Healthy Kansas (Pathways) initiative.

The Pathways initiative was created in 2016 to inspire long-lasting, community-wide health and well-being in communities across Kansas and over the past eight years, it has done just that:

• 748 grants distributed across the state to implement programs and policies that improve health.
• 437 policies passed throughout Kansas helping make the healthy choice the easy choice.

“Improving health and well-being across Kansas starts with empowering communities to address the unique challenges they each face,” said Matt All, president and CEO of BCBSKS. “We are honored to welcome these new communities into the next phase of the Pathways initiative where together we can create meaningful change, ensuring every Kansan has the opportunity to lead a healthier, more fulfilling life.”

Each community will receive coordination assistance from BCBSKS to get started and, in addition, organizations within these communities will have the opportunity to apply for non-competitive implementation grants to fund projects that will help reach the health coalition’s goals.

The Pathways initiative combines community-wide, evidence-based solutions and practices to help Kansas communities improve active living, healthy eating, behavioral health and commercial tobacco prevention and is structured around five pathways that require community collaboration. These pathways include economic stability, education access and quality, health care access and quality, neighborhoods and built environment, and social and community context. These communities will be part of the Pathways initiative through 2026.

Blue Health Initiatives, the BCBSKS program that manages and oversees the Pathways initiative, works with communities to create sustainable, healthy places where Kansans live, work and play in ways that improve the quality of their lives.

“The Pathways initiative has increased access to healthy food through local food banks, stores and restaurants; provided safe, tobacco-free places to play for children; and encouraged people to come together in new ways to improve their communities” said Virginia Barnes, Director of Blue Health Initiatives. “We look forward to continuing this work and improving lives with these new and returning health coalition partners.”

Of the 19 grants, 14 are returning communities selected in the first and/or second phase of the Pathways Initiatives. The 14 returning communities include: Bourbon, Cowley, Douglas, Franklin, Geary, Harvey, Lyon, Montgomery, Norton, Reno, Saline, Shawnee, and Wilson counties, and the City of Plainville. The five new communities include the following: Chase, Clay, Finney, and Graham counties, and the City of Wichita.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas

For more than 80 years, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas has built a reputation of trust with its members and contracting providers by providing outstanding customer service while quickly and accurately processing claims; fairly administering benefit plans and contracts; offering programs, services and tools to help members improve or maintain their health; and operating under the highest ethical standards while being good stewards of premium dollars. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and is the state’s largest insurer, serving all Kansas counties except Johnson and Wyandotte. For more information, visit bcbsks.com.