Shanelle and Abby typically met for coffee every 3 or 4 months, and during this coffee meeting they both began discussing what their respective organizations were doing surrounding racial equity in the child welfare system. They concluded more people needed to focus on this topic and they wanted to do it together.

 

The initial thought was a round table discussion with various organizations discussing how to fix the problem of Black and Brown children being overrepresented in the child welfare system. However, it quickly expanded to a need to make it a statewide conversation.

 

Shanelle was involved with a federal project named Kansas Strong led by Dr. Becci Akin that aligned perfectly with the vision of the Kansas Racial Equity Collaborative. KU was already engaged in racial equity work.  Becci was invited to join the collaborative and other core members followed from all of the founding members organizations which are the Kansas Department for Children and Families, CarePortal, and The University of Kansas School of Social Welfare.