Real transformation rarely comes from a single program.
Real change comes from meeting people where they are, listening first, and walking beside them through life’s twists and turns.
That is why Neighbor Advocacy sits at the center of SENT’s wrap-around model — it is the how of our work. It is the piece that brings together food access, healthcare, housing, workforce pathways, mental health, education, and community connections into one coordinated, relational support system.
At Southside Filling Station, someone might come for groceries.
But at the end of that visit, they find something far more valuable: a trusted relationship that opens the door to stability.
Neighbor Advocacy is that door — not a threshold you cross alone, but one you walk through with someone beside you.
What Is Neighbor Advocacy?
Neighbor Advocacy at SENT takes a person-centered case management approach rooted in dignity, strengths, and collaboration. A Neighbor Advocate meets with someone, listens deeply, and works with them to understand their goals, barriers, and resources. Then, together, they create a personalized pathway toward those goals.
Neighbor Advocates do much more than hand out information. They help with:
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- Benefits navigation (SNAP, Medicaid/KanCare, employment supports)
- Medical referrals (including connections to the Southside Wellness Clinic)
- Mental health access and support
- Housing connections and homelessness support
- Workforce training and development opportunities
- School and youth supports through Campus Connections (and related programs)
- Connections to community partners and supportive services
This kind of wrap-around support meets the full person — not a set of siloed needs.
As described on the SENT Neighbor Advocacy page:
“A friendly and experienced Neighbor Advocate … will partner with you to listen to your needs, identify your goals, and develop a personalized plan.”
That sounds simple — but it is revolutionary in a world where fragmented systems too often require neighbors to repeat their story over and over, navigate confusing paperwork, and endure dead ends that erode trust.
Why This Work Matters
1. Broken Systems Create Barriers, Not Solutions
National research shows that individuals interacting with multiple service systems typically have to tell their story five to ten times before getting coordinated support — a process that leads many to disengage entirely. If a person has to repeat the same story to multiple agencies, fatigue sets in and trust erodes.
Neighbor Advocacy exists precisely to interrupt that cycle by offering one place to be heard once, and then walked alongside through many systems of care.
2. Coordination Improves Access and Continuity
Evidence from benefit navigation research indicates that when services are coordinated — rather than siloed — program enrollment and retention increase substantially, and families are less likely to lose benefits because of paperwork or process confusion.
In other words, access isn’t just awareness — it’s accompaniment.
This mirrors what Neighbor Advocates at SENT do every day: support neighbors through practical navigation with them, not at them.
How Neighbor Advocacy Works in Practice: Three Neighbor Stories
Below are three profiles that illustrate what this work looks like — not as theory, but as lived experience.
Maria’s Story: When Food Opens the Door
When Maria first walked into the Southside Filling Station, she told herself it was temporary.
She had two elementary-aged kids at Ross Elementary and a part-time retail job that never quite guaranteed the same number of hours each week. When her rent increased, she did the math the only way she knew how. Something had to give. Groceries became the place she tried to stretch the hardest — skipping fresh produce, choosing cheaper options, quietly eating less so her kids wouldn’t notice.
Another parent at school mentioned the Southside Filling Station. “It’s set up like a store,” she said. “It doesn’t feel awkward.” Maria hesitated, but eventually she went, telling herself she was just going for food.
But food wasn’t the only thing weighing on her.
Her kids qualified for free lunch at school, but weekends were the hardest. She suspected she qualified for SNAP but had never found the time or clarity to apply. She had lost healthcare coverage during a renewal gap and wasn’t sure how to fix it. Childcare costs made it nearly impossible to take on more hours at work. And the stress — constant, quiet, exhausting stress — was beginning to affect her own health.
During one pantry visit, a Neighbor Advocate struck up a conversation. There was no clipboard, no pressure, no rush to fix everything at once. Just listening.
Over time, that conversation turned into a partnership.
Together, they completed a SNAP application. They worked through the Healthcare Marketplace re-enrollment process so Maria could access care again. She was referred to the Southside Wellness Clinic for holistic care — something she had been putting off for months. Her children were connected to supports through Campus Connections at school. They talked through budgeting, longer-term workforce opportunities, and what more stable employment might look like in the future.
Nothing changed overnight. But everything began to move.
Maria still visits the Southside Filling Station when she needs to. The difference is that now she walks in knowing she’s not just receiving groceries — she’s connected to a system of support. She’s insured. Her kids have trusted adults in their school environment. She’s exploring job training programs that could lead to more consistent income.
What began as a search for food became something much larger.
Food opened the door. Advocacy built the pathway.
James’ Story: When Stability Starts with an Address
James never imagined that something as simple as an address would become one of the biggest barriers in his life.
A veteran, he had worked most of his adult life. But a series of health setbacks, rising costs, and limited income eventually pushed him out of stable housing. Once he lost his apartment, the world began to shrink in ways he hadn’t expected. Without a permanent address, everyday systems became nearly impossible to navigate. Mail from the VA. Benefits paperwork. Medical appointments. Phone calls returned weeks too late. Everything required an address — and he didn’t have one.
He first connected with SENT through the mailboxes at the SENT Family Resource Center in the Avondale East Care Center building. It might have looked small from the outside — just a place to receive mail — but to James, it meant something more. It meant reliability. It meant a fixed point in an otherwise uncertain life. It meant he could start to reconnect with systems that had felt closed off.
But having a mailbox didn’t solve everything.
James was living without stable housing. His income was limited and difficult to stretch. Chronic pain made daily life harder, and he had stopped trying to untangle the paperwork required to access additional benefits. Meals were irregular. Isolation settled in slowly. After so many setbacks, trusting systems again felt risky.
A Neighbor Advocate began meeting with him on-site. Not with a clipboard full of forms, but with time.
They talked. Not just about housing, but about what had happened — what had been frustrating, what felt discouraging, what still mattered to him.
Over weeks and months, small steps added up. James began accessing food consistently through the Southside Filling Station. He received support navigating veteran-related benefits. He was connected to massage and chiropractic services that helped manage his chronic pain. Together, they explored housing navigation resources and homelessness supports. He was introduced to group support opportunities that reduced some of the isolation he had been carrying alone.
There was no single appointment that fixed everything. No dramatic turning point. Progress came through consistency, follow-up, and someone who didn’t disappear when the paperwork became complicated.
James is still working toward stable housing. But he is no longer navigating that path by himself.
He knows where his mail will arrive. He knows who to call when something changes. He knows someone will answer.
And perhaps most importantly — he knows he matters.
Stability, for James, didn’t begin with housing. It began with connection.
Tasha’s Story: When Support Starts in the Classroom
At first, the changes in Tasha were subtle.
She was quieter in class. Assignments came in late. Her once steady participation faded into long stretches of disengagement. Teachers noticed — not with frustration, but with concern. Instead of labeling her behavior as defiance or lack of effort, one teacher asked a different question: What might be going on beneath the surface?
That question led to a referral into Campus Connections.
Tasha was a high school student carrying more than most people could see. At home, instability had created a constant undercurrent of stress. Food ran thin at the end of some weeks. Anxiety made it hard to sleep, harder to focus. Conversations about “what comes next” after graduation felt overwhelming. She didn’t lack intelligence or potential — she lacked margin.
Through Campus Connections, Tasha found something she hadn’t realized she needed: steady support within the place she already spent most of her time.
She began receiving in-school support coordinated with her teachers. She had access to mental and emotional guidance in an environment that felt familiar and safe. A teacher referred her into Making Sense of Your Worth, a group designed to help students build confidence, identity, and decision-making skills. She joined open programs like Creative Expressions, where art and music created space to breathe and process. She participated in a Work In Process session, learning practical coping strategies and stress management tools. Later, she was introduced to the Bridge Builders Investment Club, where conversations about money, saving, and opportunity reframed what her future could look like.
But as trust grew, it became clear that the challenges weren’t limited to school hours.
A Neighbor Advocate began working with Tasha’s family, ensuring support didn’t stop when the bell rang. During especially difficult weeks, the household accessed the Southside Filling Station for food stability. The Advocate helped explore health and mental health resources beyond the school setting when appropriate. They worked carefully to coordinate services in ways that strengthened the family without disrupting Tasha’s school routine.
The goal was never to overwhelm her with programs. It was to surround her with support that made progress sustainable.
Today, Tasha is still a student. She still faces challenges. But she is more engaged, more connected, and more hopeful. She has trusted adults in her corner. She has spaces to process stress in healthy ways. She has exposure to pathways — educational, emotional, financial — that make the future feel possible instead of intimidating.
Most importantly, she and her family are no longer navigating complexity alone.
Prevention works best when schools, families, and community supports move together.
The Bigger Picture: Healing Whole People, Not Just Needs
Neighbor Advocacy reflects what community health leaders around the country are finding: healing doesn’t happen in isolated silos. It starts far upstream — in relationships, trust, dignity, and coordinated care. This is precisely the philosophy behind preventive and whole-family approaches recognized in national community health frameworks. Research continually shows that when services are coordinated and relationship-based, engagement, retention, and long-term stability all improve.
At SENT, we see this every day in neighborhoods like Hi-Crest and beyond — because we start where people are, not where systems expect them to be.
How You Can Learn More
If you or someone you know could benefit from this kind of support, learn more about Neighbor Advocacy here:
👉 https://senttopeka.com/approach/communityhealthwellness/behavioral-health-services/neighbor-advocacy/
Neighbor Advocacy doesn’t replace other services like mental health care, food access, or housing programs — it connects them into one coherent pathway toward stability and thriving.
In a world where people often fall through the cracks, Neighbor Advocacy is the bridge that keeps them moving forward.
Get Involved
Neighbor Advocacy works because people choose to walk alongside their neighbors. If this vision of coordinated, compassionate care resonates with you, there are simple ways to be part of it.
Give
Your financial support fuels food access, health navigation, housing connections, and the relationships that make wraparound care possible.
👉 https://senttopeka.com/giving/
Volunteer
Share your time and skills to support programs like Southside Filling Station and community outreach efforts.
👉 https://senttopeka.com/volunteer/
Partner With Us
Businesses, churches, and organizations can help expand access and deepen impact across the neighborhood.
👉 https://senttopeka.com/partner-with-us/
When neighbors don’t have to navigate alone, stability becomes possible. And that starts with all of us.
Closing Thought
Real community transformation doesn’t happen because one program works well.
It happens because many programs are coordinated with compassion and intention — and because someone walks with you along the way.
That is the promise — and the practice — of Neighbor Advocacy.