photo by: Screenshot

Several statewide leaders gathered for a webinar to discuss challenges the state faces after federal policy changes on Monday, April 7, 2025.

Local leaders in a webinar said the things that Kansas needs the most are child care, health care, food security and housing, and all of those things are on the chopping block of federal funding cuts.

Women for Kansas held an online webinar on Monday to educate Kansans on how federal policy changes are affecting people locally and to share questions with local leaders. Organizers said the event came to be after they were having trouble reaching elected representatives in Washington.

Kansas Rep. Suzanne Wikle, House District 10, said at the local level, Lawrence has been impacted in several ways from losses in federal funding, which is mostly visible in job cuts. The community has seen it at Haskell Indian Nations University and most recently at the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence, which announced a reduction in force affecting dozens of employees last week.

“I think in general, most people don’t understand how many federal grants flow into states and support programs like the Boys & Girls Club, food pantries, other social service programs, child care programs,” Wikle said.

Kansas Rep. Brooklynne Mosley, House District 46, said that cuts to Medicaid, Social Security and missed Social Security payments are going to impact seniors in communities. She said right now, the fastest growing demographic in the country for unhoused people are above the age of 50.

“I talked to a woman who was in her 70s, who was working at least 30 hours a week, not because she wanted to, but because she had to,” Mosley said. “So any cuts or missed payments to Social Security are going to impact some of our seniors in our community.”

Dena Sattler, a U.S. military veteran and journalist, said she was heartbroken and disgusted by what’s happening to veterans and senior citizens in Kansas and throughout the country and said the government should be doing more to support veterans and seniors, not less.

“The cost cutting plan includes staffing suicide hotlines,” Sattler said. “Our veterans of all ages suffer from PTSD, depression and other mental health issues. They have financial troubles, challenges in accessing benefits. Many are homeless veterans at a much higher risk of suicide than the general population.”

photo by: Screenshot

A webinar was held on Monday, April 7, 2025 to discuss how federal policy changes impact Kansans.

Kansas Sen. Marci Francisco, District 2, said that in regards to tariffs, farmers and ranchers are going to bear the brunt of this global trade war when they’re being imposed. She said agriculture products are among the first targets for retaliation, leaving farmers with little options to recover lost markets and revenue. Francisco said over 20% of agricultural production in the country is exported.

Francisco said farmers operate on tight margins and long production cycles who can’t simply pivot their business models. Many have already purchased their seeds and have decided what they’re going to plant, which for many is to start in the next few weeks.

“We prided ourselves of being the breadbasket of the world, and now we’re saying we’re not going to support those families and farmers and ranchers who have made that possible,” Francisco said.

Jessica Cooney, impact director of Just Food, said the food pantry serves upwards of 15,000 families a week. She said that her organization isn’t directly funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but the organization is facing the downstream impacts that its partners and farmers are already beginning to face.

The organization recently announced that it will receive 30% less food – meaning 40,000 cases of meat, dairy, eggs and dried fruit – from Harvesters. The supplies are provided to Harvesters through the Emergency Food Assistance Program, a federal nutrition program designed to help low-income households supplement their food sources through food banks and pantries.

“I hate to say it, but I am truly unsure if local food will survive this administration,” Cooney said. “… These programs are not wasteful. They’re supporting small businesses, rural America, children, seniors and our county’s most vulnerable, and we are only beginning to see how catastrophic these cuts are going to be for food systems.”

Christy Davis, who previously served as the rural development state director for Kansas, said that one thing rural America really needs is housing. She said if someone lives in a rural community, they can participate in the USDA Multifamily Housing Program, which assists low-income and disabled rural property owners through loans, loan guarantees and grants to enable owners to develop and rehabilitate properties.

She added that the USDA is also instrumental in financing loan guarantees for all kinds of community projects, like hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, child care, or the kind of projects that wouldn’t happen in a rural community without some kind of government assistance. Davis said there were several cuts to staff in these programs during the first Trump administration, and now it’s happening again.

Angie Powers, from the Kansas National Education Association, said that in terms of K-12 education, the state is going to see larger class sizes and less support for students in low income and rural areas as well as fewer educators. She said the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education leads to cutting funding for Title I, which supplemental support to students in high-poverty schools, altogether.

“We don’t know what it’s going to mean exactly with funding, but it’s unlikely that funding is going to remain the same or be increased,” Powers said. “But let’s say that the funding was completely cut off, that is $138,000,900 of federal revenue just for Kansas gone.”

“If we were to turn that into a number that could be the equivalent of entry level teacher positions, that is the loss of over 3,000 teachers statewide,” Powers said.

LGBTQ+ activist Jae Moyer said Trump has already passed several executive orders specifically targeting the LGBTQ+ community. For example, conservatives talk about the need to defend women from “extreme gender ideology” and ending radical diversity, equity and inclusion programs, they said.

“I think it’s become clearer that our community is the scapegoat for American conservatives today,” Moyer said. “They want to use members of my community to advance their agenda to win their elections.”

According to event organizers, U.S. Reps. Tracey Mann, Derek Schmidt, Sharice Davids and Ron Estes were invited to attend along with U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall. None of the representatives attended the webinar Monday evening.