2025 Power of the Purse Grant Application is now available. Deadline to apply 9/30/2025 at 5 p.m.
Rooted in Community, Growing Opportunity.
Cowley ACTs is about creating the kind of community where families can grow, neighbors can rely on each other, and opportunity feels within reach.
Cowley ACTs brings together local energy, practical solutions, and community voices to make that possible. Cowley County works best when we work together. Every step we take now helps build a better future—for all of us.
Legacy Regional Community Foundation engages in transformational work to cultivate a resilient and just region. Cowley ACTs was set in motion by Legacy’s inaugural Data Walk event, A Closer Look at Cowley Kids, in November 2022.
Since then, intentional efforts across the county have helped identify where individual entities are aligned around critical issues—and where collective action can create deeper impact. These efforts laid the groundwork for shared leadership and community-led change.
From the launch of Cowley ACTs to the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) in 2024 and the resulting Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) in 2025, a culture of collaboration is beginning to move the needle on some of Cowley County’s most daunting challenges.
Today, as work once led by Cowley ACTs is carried forward by new partners, Legacy is focusing its leadership on measurable goals that advance upward mobility and community connection.
Cowley ACTS 2025 - Quad-fold 7.2.2025.pdfEngage with this work by contacting coordinator@legacyregionalfoundation.org or by calling 620-221-7224.
A number of integrated projects and initiatives led to the launch of this work. Legacy tied together our work coordinating the RISE Cowley's Blue Cross Blue Shield Storytelling Pathway with that of our SDG team from the Kansas Association of Community Foundations (KACF) cohort aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals funded by a grant from the Charles S Mott Foundation.
Additionally, Legacy is coordinating with the Kansas Health Foundation funded and supported Early Childhood Literacy Collective Impact Initiative in Ark City.
Places where others are telling our story...
● APHA 2023 Annual Meeting and Expo: Atlanta Nov 12-15 – Presentation abstract Cowley county data walk: A novel community engagement approach for improving health outcomes in a rural Kansas community
● FaceBook/Updates – City Cowley County Health Department – in addition to posting banner images pointing to Legacy webpage, regular comments were included in the widely distributed biweekly Public Health Update, and the City-Cowley County Health Department added and promoted a “Cowley County Data Walk Notification” sign-up to their website.
● Pilar Pedraza with KAKE news produced a segment highlighting “A Closer Look at Cowley Kids” Data Walk information regarding depression/suicide on December 5, 2022 after learning about it from KSOK/BOBFM announcing the day after on their radio show and social media.
● Morning Mixtape interview on BOB FM 12/7/2022
● The Cowley CourierTraveler published this media release on January 24, 2023.
● The Cowley CourierTraveler published this article on December 3, 2022.
● Kansas Health Institute published an article regarding the Data Walk on their website on December 8, 2022.
● United Nations Foundation published an article on August 29, 2022.
● Brookings Institute featured the Kansas community foundation cohort in a “State of the SDGs in the US” publication as linked by Kansas Association of Community Foundation’s on March 17, 2022. KACF’s SDGs Cohort of five rural community foundations in Kansas is highlighted by Brookings Institute in the report “State of the SDGs in the US” (see p. 18).
