Key stakeholders from across Kansas gathered in Salina for an in-depth conversation on hunger and food insecurity as part of the Kansas Health Foundation’s FuseKS event, which took place from Feb. 24–26, 2025.
A Data Walk held during the event featured eight posters that provided in-depth information on hunger and poverty in Kansas. As they viewed the posters, participants were encouraged to discuss and interpret the data with their peers and identify possible policy actions that could lead to improved health in Kansas.
Some of the Kansas data discussed included:
- 1 in 7 adults with children sometimes or often do not have enough to eat.
- 1 in 5 children were food insecure in 2022, returning to pre-pandemic levels.
- In 42 of 105 counties, more than 20 percent of children experience food insecurity.
- 1 in 5 people who identify as Black or African American experience poverty, a higher rate than any other racial or ethnic group.
Funding and support for the FuseKS event was provided by the Kansas Health Foundation. The Kansas Health Institute (KHI) provided the analysis and design of the Data Walk posters. This is the sixth Data Walk that KHI has contributed to in Kansas. A Data Walk that focused on childhood literacy was held in Andover. Data Walks that focused on childhood poverty were held in Cowley County and Shawnee County. Two Data Walks have been held in Sedgwick County, one in partnership with the Wichita Department for Children and Families , which focused the health and well-being of children in the foster care system, and the other in partnership with the Wichita Business Journal, which focused on the role employers have in improving their community’s health.
