About Us
Committed to improving the health and wellbeing of every community in Shawnee County.
Formerly Heartland Healthy Neighborhoods, LiveWell Shawnee County is the community health coalition in Topeka and Shawnee County, Kansas. Our coalition is focused on mobilizing people, ideas and resources around topics and issues identified throughout our communities, and working towards solutions that address them.
A history of LiveWell Shawnee County
The short version
LiveWell Shawnee County began in March of 2008, when five people met together to talk about the health and wellness issues that faced our communities. That day those five people, representing five different organizations, made the decision to work together to address those issues and work towards creating a healthier Topeka and Shawnee County.
Launched in the Fall of 2008 as Heartland Healthy Neighborhoods, the group contacted other organizations that had an interest in the health and well-being of the community and began meeting together to organize its activities and priorities. The group applied for and won a Pioneering Healthier Communities (PHC) grant from the national YMCA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This sent ten individuals to attend PHC training in Washington DC, and that group became the leadership of the coalition.
Since the creation of our coalition, LiveWell Shawnee County has worked on numerous initiatives across a multitude of health disparities in our communities. The coalition continues to work today and also includes focused Impact Teams which address specific topics that impact the health and wellbeing of Topeka and Shawnee County.
We will mobilize the community to take action on health priorities so that policy, environment, and practice influences a culture shift toward health and wellness for everyone in Shawnee County.
Guiding Principles
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Define our criteria and determine activities that meet the intent of LiveWell Shawnee County.
Convene with partners on health issues.
Lead, facilitate and advocate change and conversation.
Educate organizational, government and community decision makers.
Educate the community.
Use the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).
Establish community health priorities, goals, strategies and actions.
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Underserved and at-risk communities.
Stakeholders with interest in the community.
Organizations, businesses, government agencies, and individuals.
Agencies and policy makers.
All who have interest for health and wellness.
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Support is created for community partners with improvement activities.
Plans are implemented.
Policy is developed to support sustainable change and strategic focus.
Health and well‐being in community is improved.