STRIVING-250
Community Backed Anti-Drug Anti-Crime Anti-Violence Tax
  1. Doing More Than Patching Bullet Holes: A Trauma Surgeon's Perspective On Gun Violence

    'I Opened My Eyes More Widely...'


    A case that began with what sounded like a funny announcement in the Emergency Department—“GSW to butt, ETA 5 minutes”—has forever changed Dr. Robert Winfield, a trauma surgeon at KU Medical Center. He writes about his experience treating gunshot wounds and how he is now willing “to speak to anyone, anywhere, at any time, who wants to talk about gun violence and its root causes.” We consider his first-person account a must-read, but be warned that it does include graphic details that some readers might find disturbing. The case that started with the “GSW to butt” announcement ended with a heartbreaking encounter with a grieving mother: “The anguish she expressed when I told her of his death was like a bullet fired into my soul.”
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  1. Focus On PTSD Care

    Project RISE - Part 1

    Keeping Surivors Alive!
    A new COMBAT-funded program at Truman Medical Center is focused on treating all the wounds—seen and unseen—a gunshot can cause. Studies have tracked what becomes of gunshot wound (GSW) survivors long-term. They’ve discovered some alarming trends, including the high risks of survivors being shot again and eventually dying in another firearms-related incident. The TMC program, Project RISE, seeks to identify shooting victims with severe PTSD symptoms and provide early intervention. TMC doctors and nurses can start administering “psychological first aid” the moment a wounded patient has been physically stabilized.
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  1. Hope Hangout

    Hope Has A New Hangout


    Since COMBAT launched the Hope Hangout in 2015—right across the street from Ruskin High School in south Kansas City—the program’s director has mentored more than 300 children. Now Marva Moses expects to mentor more students than ever before as the Hope Hangout is “taken to another level” with its move to a new location: inside the Hickman Mills alternative school, Burke Academy. The Hangout’s children affectionally call Moses “Mama Marva” as she teaches them life lessons about respect, responsibility, resolving disputes, setting goals, making plans and pursuing dreams. “For some of the students at the Hope Hangout, Marva is a second mom,” said Hickman Mills’ Deputy Superintendent of Student Services. “For a few of them, she is their first mom.”
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  1. State Line Arrest


    County Drug Task Force 'Striking' At Criminals Crossing State Lines


    The COMBAT-funded Jackson County Drug Task Force has joined a federally-formed Strike Force that will pursue drug traffickers and violent criminals who crisscross Greater Kansas City’s state line. “Crime does not stop at the state line and neither does the Strike Force,” said Stephen McAllister, the U.S. Attorney for  Kansas. For years the Jackson County Task Force has been seizing drugs that can be traced to Mexican cartels, including 144 pounds of methamphetamine during one recent search. These international cases have had the Task Force working with federal authorities on a regular basis, making the Task Force a logical fit for this initiative targeting “drug trafficking organizations that are making the streets of metro Kansas City less safe and more violent.” 
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  1. CALENDAR
  1. FUNDING DISTRIBUTION

COMBAT Funding Pie Chart

Half Toward Enforcement

COMBAT is supported through a quarter-center sales tax that Jackson County voters first approved in 1989 and have since renewed multiple times—the last time being in 2016 when they voted (with record 77% support) extending the COMBAT text another nine years. 

The tax generates more than $20 million a year to support prevention, treatment and anti-violence programs. The County Legislature approved a forumlar to distribute the funding, with half the revenue going toward law enforcement efforts.

A quarter-cent sales tax equates to an extra 25 cents per $100 spend. An estimated 30% of COMBAT revenue is generated by non-Jackson County resident paying the tax when shopping in the county.
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  1. #STRIVINTogether

STRIVING Together To Reduce Violence In Neighborhoods

Initiative Focuses On Need For Joint Effort To Reduce Violence In Neighborhoods

This COMBAT initiative brings together school administrators, police officers, elected officials, mental health professionals, social workers, faith-based leaders and concerned citizens to address violence in Jackson County’s most vulnerable neighborhoods. 

With a focus on developing a collaborative, comprehensive and coordinated plan in each “hot spot,” STRIVIN’ recognizes that no one individual or single agency can “save a neighborhood.” It takes working together—striving together—to make any neighborhood a safe place to call home.
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