Bourbon County Inter-Agency Coalition
General Membership Meeting Minutes
August 6, 2025
- Welcome: Twenty-two members representing nineteen agencies attended the meeting held at the Scottview Apartments Conference Room.
- Member Introductions and Announcements:
- Jennyifer Gum-Fowler -Fort Scott Public Library
- Alyssa Hess- Safehouse Pittsburg
- Anna Salas – Safehouse Pittsburg
- Theresa Amershek – Child Exchange & Visitation Center (Safehouse)
- Patty Simpson – Fort Scott Housing Authority – There is currently a waiting list for all sizes of units, but still taking applications
- Sandy Haggard – K-State Extension – Offering food safety “OWL Hour” program. Focused on cooking for one or two. Takes place at Fort Scott Public Library on Wednesdays at 10 AM. The Americorps grant was renewed and will be starting back up soon.
- Jalaine Davis – Core Community Coach- The new phase of Core Community will be starting on September 9th.
- Dave Gillen – Beacon – Provide food and hygiene items to individuals in need. Can provide a limited number of taxi passes and gas vouchers. The Beacon served 399 families in July ($3,800 in assistance). Numbers are increasing steadily. Served 8 new families last month.
- Tammy Alcantar- Crawford County Health Department – Teen pregnancy grant has changed and will go back to MCOs. Tammy is still doing the Baby and Me Tobacco Free program. Prenatal class offered for Bourbon, Crawford, and Cherokee counties. Started Monday, offers learning and resources for expecting moms. All pregnant moms can participate.
- Dee Dee LeFever- Greenbush Early Learning Services -Greenbush provides Parents as Teachers, Birth to 3 programs. Also hosts parent training modules. Dee Dee is now part of the Autism team. A new PAT parent educator has been hired for Bourbon County.
- Craig Campbell Good Neighbor Action Team – GNAT is averaging one wheelchair ramp build per week. Linn and Crawford counties have been keeping them busy. Working with the codes department on code violations. GNAT will help homeowners recover overgrown properties, and can help paint houses. Working with FS City to develop a list of wish-list properties that volunteers can help with. Craig also works with individuals who need court-ordered volunteer hours. Check the GNAT Facebook page for more information.
- Heather Shepherd – School-based Community Health Worker – Works with students and families. Heather can help students and their families find resources, help with insurance, parenting, about anything.
- Kathy Romero – Angels Home Health -Angels covers several counties in SEK. They can provide any kind of home health services. Provide programs designed for a wide range of individuals and their needs.
- Belinda Pitts – Mental Health Liaison – USD 234 – Belinda helps connect children with mental health resources. She works with families to build trust and supports teachers by helping kids in the classroom.
- Christa Vaughn – SEK Mental Health – Case managers and getting ready to go back to school. Fully staffed at USD 234.
- Cherri Walrod – K-State Community Health Worker – Cherri helps individuals with food, assistance applications, and works with families with special needs children. Her position is grant-funded through the end of this year.
- Shelby Moore- Families Together FAST Program – Shelby helps families navigate the special education process.
- Michelle Stevenson – Early Childhood Coordinator – Michelle works with families to monitor the development of children from prenatal through 6 years old. Her program encourages and equips parents to help children meet their developmental milestones. Parent/Child Cafe last week was very successful, a KU grant made family stipends possible.
- Janelle Tate – Early Childhood Block Grant
- Kelli Mengarelli – Early Childhood Block Grant – Works with preschools, child care centers, and home providers in 6 counties.
- Program:
Pamela Thompson – Family Resource Center – Family Strong Community Outreach Liaison
Pamela and the Family Strong program work with family resource advocates to find resources for families. The program is funded through a grant from KU, one of only 6 in the country. Pamela has been working with USD 234 for the last two years. The district and area partners have developed a student support team to directly impact students and families. Pamela has worked with Core Communities and the Kansas Children’s Service League to develop a discussion (training) to train volunteers in the community. Hope into Action Bourbon County Resilience Summit will take place September 2nd from 6:30-7:30, and September 6th from 9:00-4:00 at Fort Scott Church of the Nazarene. The discussion will focus on ACES, Hope Scale, and building Resilience. Organizers are encouraging any and all families and professionals to attend. Pamela offered a special thank you to HBCAT for offering some radio time to promote the Hope Into Action Summit. There will be a resource table at the September 6th meeting if anyone would like to bring goodies to share for the table.
The Family Strong program works to prevent abuse and neglect of children. Anyone 0-18 can qualify for services through Family Strong. Stephanie Breckenridge is the contact person for Bourbon County. KU sensemaking sessions have been taking place this summer. Everyone is encouraged to share their story, the good, bad, and ugly.
- Open Forum: Nothing further came before the membership.
- Adjournment: The next General Membership meeting will be September 3, 2025.