FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2019

Jackson County COMBAT will appoint as its new Deputy Director an experienced treatment and prevention specialist who also has worked extensively in community engagement here, COMBAT Director Vince Ortega announced today.

Dawna Shumate will assume the new duties beginning Feb. 11, 2019.

"Dawna is a true professional," said Vince Ortega, Director of Jackson County COMBAT. "She is well-respected as a leader in her current position with the County and in the community. With her background as a substance abuse treatment counselor, and her understanding of behavior health issues as the root cause of a large percentage of violence in the county, she brings a skill level to COMBAT that can assist the administration in better serving the citizens of Jackson County."

Shumate most recently served as Director of Jackson County’s Ombudsman’s Office, and she has worked as a complaint officer in Jackson County and as a HIV/AIDS program manager and a substance abuse counselor at a Kansas City health clinic. Shumate holds a Master’s Degree in Management from Baker University.

COMBAT is Jackson County’s violence- and drug-prevention program. In 2018, voters placed the program under the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, and a search for a new director was initiated, resulting in Ortega’s appointment.