Building a Resilient Wichita

People of differnt genders and skin tones against a blue background with the words, "Building a Resilient Wichita. Join us for a new series of community conversations on the connections between environmental and social challenges in Wichita." A gold bar across the bottom includes the phrase, "a community sustainability series"

Upcoming Events:

Date/Time	Details
Thursday, April 20, 5:30 PM	Inclusive Community Engagement Woolsey Hall, WSU Campus, 2600 N Mid Campus Drive The Douglas County Sustainability Office is working on a community-wide climate action and resilience plan. The plan will be tailored to the community’s priorities across Lawrence, Eudora, Baldwin City, Lecompton, and the unincorporated areas of the county. Outreach efforts included a community survey, interviews with community members, and targeted focus groups, all before putting pen to paper on the plan. The community involvement process being used for the climate action plan has been inspired by the Douglas County Food Systems Plan adopted by the City of Lawrence and Douglas County in 2017. Participants will hear from Jamie Hofling, sustainability impact analyst and Connie Fiorella Fitzpatrick, food systems specialist for Douglas County. Jamie is co-leading the climate action plan process and Connie served as a community coordinator and was instrumental in the development of the Douglas County Food System Plan. They will present their work of including community voices in county plans. Then participants will get to experience a focus group and or community interview before workshopping applicability in their own work.

Date/Time

Details

Thursday, April 20, 5:30 PM

Inclusive Community Engagement
Woolsey Hall, WSU Campus, 2600 N Mid Campus Drive

The Douglas County Sustainability Office is working on a community-wide climate action and resilience plan. The plan will be tailored to the community’s priorities across Lawrence, Eudora, Baldwin City, Lecompton, and the unincorporated areas of the county. Outreach efforts included a community survey, interviews with community members, and targeted focus groups, all before putting pen to paper on the plan. The community involvement process being used for the climate action plan has been inspired by the Douglas County Food Systems Plan adopted by the City of Lawrence and Douglas County in 2017.

Participants will hear from Jamie Hofling, sustainability impact analyst and Connie Fiorella Fitzpatrick, food systems specialist for Douglas County. Jamie is co-leading the climate action plan process and Connie served as a community coordinator and was instrumental in the development of the Douglas County Food System Plan. They will present their work of including community voices in county plans. Then participants will get to experience a focus group and or community interview before workshopping applicability in their own work.

Check back for additional details about these and additional events.

This series is hosted by the Environmental Finance Center at WSU, League of Women Voters of Wichita Metro, and the City of Wichita.

Past Events

Date/Time	Details
Monday, January 30, 6:30 PM	Environmental Justice 101 Advanced Learning Library, 711 W 2nd Street What is environmental justice? How is it linked to community planning? And, how is it showing up in our own communities? Jeff Severin, sustainability planner and Program Manager for the Environmental Finance Center at Wichita State University, will kick off this series exploring connections between environmental and social challenges and facilitate a conversation about environmental justice concerns in the City of Wichita.
Thursday, February 23, 5:30 PM	Energy Burden and the Inflation Reduction Act Evergreen Community Center & Library, 2601 N Arkansas Avenue While the average energy burden in Kansas is just 3%, many Kansans experience an energy burden of more than twice that average. Some community members in Sedgwick County spend more than 9% of their annual income on energy bills. The community and individual disadvantages linked to high energy and housing burdens magnify the health risks of low-income, nonwhite, elderly, and renter households, as well as residents of multifamily and manufactured housing. Learn about the ways the Inflation Reduction Act and Justice initiatives can reduce household energy burden in your community.
Saturday, April 1, 2:00-4:00 PM	Indigenous Wisdom and Climate Change Mid-America All-Indian Museum, 650 N Seneca Street Step by Step Kansas brings people together to have open conversations about our changing climate, including ways we can become more engaged in moving towards solutions to this enormous challenge. Participants will hear from Dr. Daniel Wildcat, professor at Haskell Indian Nations University and a founder of the Indigenous Peoples Climate Change Working Group, before taking part in a discussion facilitated by Dr. Stephen Lerner, clinical psychologist, filmmaker, and founder of Step by Step. Attendees will also be invited to have their reflections on the event and relationship with nature recorded for the project.

Date/Time

Details

Monday, January 30, 6:30 PM

Environmental Justice 101
Advanced Learning Library, 711 W 2nd Street

What is environmental justice? How is it linked to community planning? And, how is it showing up in our own communities?

Jeff Severin, sustainability planner and Program Manager for the Environmental Finance Center at Wichita State University, will kick off this series exploring connections between environmental and social challenges and facilitate a conversation about environmental justice concerns in the City of Wichita.

Thursday, February 23, 5:30 PM

Energy Burden and the Inflation Reduction Act
Evergreen Community Center & Library, 2601 N Arkansas Avenue

While the average energy burden in Kansas is just 3%, many Kansans experience an energy burden of more than twice that average. Some community members in Sedgwick County spend more than 9% of their annual income on energy bills. The community and individual disadvantages linked to high energy and housing burdens magnify the health risks of low-income, nonwhite, elderly, and renter households, as well as residents of multifamily and manufactured housing.

Learn about the ways the Inflation Reduction Act and Justice initiatives can reduce household energy burden in your community.

Saturday, April 1, 2:00-4:00 PM

Indigenous Wisdom and Climate Change
Mid-America All-Indian Museum, 650 N Seneca Street

Step by Step Kansas brings people together to have open conversations about our changing climate, including ways we can become more engaged in moving towards solutions to this enormous challenge.

Participants will hear from Dr. Daniel Wildcat, professor at Haskell Indian Nations University and a founder of the Indigenous Peoples Climate Change Working Group, before taking part in a discussion facilitated by Dr. Stephen Lerner, clinical psychologist, filmmaker, and founder of Step by Step. Attendees will also be invited to have their reflections on the event and relationship with nature recorded for the project.