United Way of Harvey and Marion Counties has been awarded a $50,000 Kansas Community Suicide Prevention Grant from the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. The project, called Bridging the Gap, will build suicide prevention into the places where people already come looking for help, working alongside the Healthy Harvey Coalition and partners across both counties.
The need here is real and it is local. Harvey County’s age-adjusted suicide rate is 16.0 per 100,000, higher than the national average of 14.2. Kansas lost 569 residents to suicide in 2023, and suicide remains the second leading cause of death among Kansans aged 10 to 44. At the same time, access to care is thin. Harvey County has one mental health provider for every 206 residents. In Marion County, that ratio is 1,299 to 1.
What makes this project different is where it starts. People in crisis do not always walk into a clinic first. They walk into the library asking about rent assistance. They call about a utility bill or a food box. Our Resource Navigation program at the Newton Public Library has served 196 unduplicated clients since launching in July 2025, across more than 900 client encounters and over 300 referrals out to partner organizations. People rarely arrive with just one problem. The average client needs help across 2.6 domains at once, 60% of them with housing. Those are exactly the pressures that raise suicide risk, and that conversation is often the first one someone has with anybody.
Over the next year, the grant will fund four things:
- Gatekeeper training. Two QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) trainings, one in each county, equipping at least 30 library staff, faith leaders, teachers, first responders, and social service workers to recognize warning signs and start the conversation.
- Screening built into navigation. Resource Navigation will adopt the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale, a free, plain-language screening tool endorsed by the FDA, CDC, and SAMHSA, as a standard part of intake. Services stay free to every resident.
- Community awareness. Events and outreach starting this month for Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, with materials in English and Spanish.
- 988 everywhere. Wallet cards, magnets, posters, and window clings placed at 40 or more partner sites, developed with HeadQuarters Kansas Suicide Prevention Center, the statewide 988 provider.
“Suicide prevention cannot only live in a clinic, especially not in rural counties where providers are stretched this thin,” said Dalton Black, Executive Director of United Way of Harvey and Marion Counties. “The people we are most worried about are already sitting across the table from us, asking for help with rent or groceries. This grant lets us meet them there, with training and tools that stay in this community long after the funding ends.”
That last part matters. QPR training stays with the people who complete it. The screening protocol becomes permanent practice at no ongoing cost. The 988 materials stay on refrigerators and bulletin boards for years.
If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, free and available 24/7.
To host a 988 resource kit, bring QPR training to your organization, or connect with Resource Navigation, contact United Way of Harvey and Marion Counties.