Community partnerships are essential to success in Southeast Kansas. While Humboldt USD 258 and Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center (SEKMHC) have been partners for many years through the school-based therapy program, a new level of partnership is set to come to life in Fall 2025.
Through a grant from the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund, USD 258 is constructing the Cubs Community Care Center, a birth-to-adulthood education and community center that will address the community’s childcare crisis, declining economic conditions and healthcare shortages.
Childcare
The community center will include a new daycare with up to 24 slots for infants and children up to age 5. Children will receive age-appropriate education and nurturing through a curriculum combining social and emotional learning elements, literacy development and early STEAM content for pre-K students.
Workforce Development/Education
The community center will offer workforce development support and alternative education opportunities for youth and adults to address the community’s economic concerns. The community center will host classes, trainings and meetings, with reservable group spaces to meet with employers or utilize for virtual interviews. Staff will offer career development services and employment training, along with partnering with Allen Community College to integrate options for certificate programs and career degrees.
USD 258’s Virtual Education is one of Kansas’s top five largest virtual programs and will be headquartered in the community center.
Health Care
Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center/Ashley Clinic will partner with USD 258 to open a community clinic, open to the public, that will offer behavioral health care and primary care through an integrated system that addresses whole-person care for people of all ages. The clinic will be onsite at the new community center. Ultimately, our presence at the community center will reduce barriers to health care and increase accessibility and convenience for anyone in the community. Through this partnership, we will:
- Employ two full-time providers, which will double the number of primary care providers in the community.
- Establish a behavioral healthcare clinic onsite with three therapists and support staff.
- Develop an integrated system of care for people from birth to adulthood guided by care coordination staff.
A care coordination provider will help navigate barriers such as appointment scheduling, communicating between healthcare teams and setting up preventative screenings and other necessary diagnostic services. Health care can seem complicated, especially if families need care from different providers. We hope to make the process easier for them.
Being collocated with other community services and next to the USD 258 Athletic and Community Complex ensures convenience and accessibility, which are critical to area residents. Access to care is one of the most significant healthcare barriers for people in Southeast Kansas, and we hope partnering with USD 258 helps eliminate that struggle.
Plans for the clinic will include primary care provided by two practitioners and their nursing staff, along with behavioral care and support services offered by three therapists and case managers.
Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center and Ashley Clinic utilize a care model in which nobody is ever denied services based on their ability (or inability) to pay. Services are billed based on a sliding fee scale determined by income.
We plan to offer integrated services through this clinic 40 hours per week, and we will work toward extended hours sometime in the future.
Our partnership with USD 258 will help us double our capacity to provide primary and behavioral health care services to children and adults in Humboldt and surrounding areas. This collaboration will result in healthier children, families and communities.
Vicki Wright
Senior Grant Writer
Anna Ramsey
Grant & Program Coordinator