Momentum 22: A Founder's Commitment
Topeka Community Foundation President Marsha Pope’s a-ha moment occurred in 2016 when the Robert Wood Johnson assessment revealed that health in Shawnee County had gotten worse instead of better over time.
“We had granted millions of dollars to programs that hadn’t produced the outcomes we wanted,” she said. “Health care was the third largest area our foundation and our donors cared about, and the data told us we had to do something differently.”
Pope also learned that 20 percent of a person’s physical well-being is determined by genetics, 20 percent by health care access and 60 percent by zip code.
“Just by virtue of zip code, a person’s health could be different than someone living just five miles away,” she said. “We realized that we could focus on improving neighborhoods as a way to improve health.”
Pope, who became president of the foundation in 2016, brought together a Kansas Leadership Center facilitator and representatives from Stormont Vail, the Topeka Police Department, the Topeka Rescue Mission, the Greater Topeka Partnership and other entities to assess social determinants that were having an adverse effect on health. At the same time, the Greater Topeka Partnership was starting community conversations about Momentum 2022.
“As we were having internal discussions about what to do, the Greater Topeka Partnership was talking about holistic economic prosperity for all so our goals were aligned,” said Pope. “The effort was no longer just nonprofits helping the less fortunate but an inclusive call to action to change systems, policies and environments.”
The three funders of Momentum 2022 are the Greater Topeka Partnership, the Topeka Community Foundation and the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.
Pope said that before the Greater Topeka Partnership and Momentum 2022, the foundation hadn’t had an opportunity to interact with the Chamber of Commerce “in a meaningful way, so to be invited to participate and be perceived as having an important voice in this process was wonderful. The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library was also brought in and seen as an entity that does more for the community than provide books. There has been this realization about the importance of working together not for what’s best for individual organizations, but what’s best for the community.”
The St. Francis Health Center Foundation transferred its assets to the Topeka Community Foundation after Ardent Health Services purchased the hospital in 2017. Those funds, along with estate gifts and other monies, account for $95 million in foundation assets and investments across 400 funds.
“After the study’s findings, we realized we couldn’t grant our way to success,” said Pope. “Instead of investing in businesses around the world, we decided to move our approach from transaction to transformation and invest in social good in Shawnee County through our Impact Investing initiative.”
The Kansas Health Foundation provided funds for the Topeka Community Foundation to learn about local impact investing and develop guidelines and policies around the process.
One of the foundation’s first initiatives included providing funds in the Hi-Crest neighborhood for SENT Prep Academy, an early education center; supporting affordable housing initiatives; and identifying food access obstacles.
“If you don’t have transportation, you may have to walk to a Dollar General or Dollar Tree to get groceries, and when you get there, you won’t find fresh fruit or vegetables,” she said. “And you may not feel safe making the trip because your area may be known for violence or may not have sidewalks.”
When the pandemic arrived, the foundation temporarily shifted back to transaction mode to help nonprofits stay afloat.
“Nonprofits had immediate needs, so we would make decisions within 48 hours and hand deliver checks so they could continue their important work,” she said. Pope said previously the city and county would experience an economic win like the arrival of the Mars Wrigley manufacturing facility and then there would be a dry spell waiting for the next big thing to materialize. “Now we have Evergy Plaza, Plug and Play and so many things happening to grow our community and build momentum,” she said. “There’s a feeling of positivity and possibility. People are wearing Topeka shirts and flying Topeka flags off their porches. You can feel the sense of pride as people catch a vision of what we can be.”
The foundation’s two-fold focus for the next five years will be on community health and mental health, the latter of which will use the St. Francis Health Center funds earlier allocated to the foundation for that purpose.
“Ten years ago our community wasn’t ready to undertake the hard work being done now to provide positive changes across the board,” Pope said. “I give Matt Pivarnik (president and CEO of the Greater Topeka Partnership) a lot of credit for opening his arms and inviting people and organizations to be part of the team, as well as Mayor Larry Wolgast (former mayor) and Shelly Buhler (former county commissioner) for displaying a great example from the start about how public and private organizations can come together to make progress.
