FOR RELEASE: September 21, 2026
MEDIA CONTACT: Aimee Copp-Hasty | (785) 342-7232|
acopp-hasty@senttopeka.com
SENT Awarded Kansas Health Foundation Transformation Grant to Advance Financial Stability and Upward Mobility
Shawnee County initiative will connect financial education, coaching, legal support and fair-credit pathways inside SENT’s Family Resource Center model.
TOPEKA, Kan. – SENT, Inc. has been awarded a Transformation Grant from the Kansas Health Foundation (KHF) to build a community-based financial wellness model designed to help Shawnee County families move from financial strain toward stability, dignity and upward mobility.
Through the initiative, SENT will develop and test a Shawnee County model that goes beyond traditional financial literacy by combining trusted community access with financial education, individualized coaching, legal support for debt-related barriers, youth financial education, stronger data and referral systems, and exploration of fairer alternatives to high-cost debt.
“This grant gives us the opportunity to address one of the barriers we see over and over again: families can work hard, make responsible choices, and still be trapped by debt, damaged credit, or financial products designed to keep them behind. At SENT, we believe every person has infinite dignity, value and worth. Because of the trusted relationships we have built with our neighbors, we have the opportunity to bring in-person financial education, coaching, legal support and fairer financial pathways directly into the SENT Family Resource Center. This investment allows us to walk beside neighbors with practical tools and real relationships so that stability can become mobility. Just as importantly, we get to build and test a model here in Shawnee County that could help communities across Kansas.” – Johnathan Sublet, Founder & Executive Director, SENT, Inc.
The project is designed for people experiencing financial strain, debt burden, credit challenges, housing instability or other barriers to economic mobility, including working households struggling to afford basic needs, renters, first-time homebuyers, families using food assistance, justice-involved neighbors and households affected by high-interest debt or payday lending.
The work is intentionally connected to SENT’s broader Family Resource Center approach. Financial instability can affect housing, employment, transportation, health, food security, family stability and a person’s ability to plan for the future. By embedding financial wellness within existing wraparound supports, SENT aims to help neighbors move beyond crisis response toward greater stability, choice and opportunity.
PARTNERS IN THE MODEL
KHF’s investment will allow SENT to build and test the approach in a trusted, community-based setting while contributing to the Foundation’s broader Blueprint for Upward Mobility and its focus on helping Kansans move toward greater financial stability and opportunity.
“SENT’s model recognizes that financial stability and health are deeply connected—and that education alone is not enough. By combining trusted, community-based support with financial coaching, legal assistance and collaboration with financial institutions, this model aims to help individuals gain greater control over their financial lives. We are excited to learn from an approach that could improve lives in Shawnee County and offer valuable lessons for communities across Kansas.”- Lindsay Wilke, Associate Director of Network Mobilization, Kansas Health Foundation
The University of Kansas Center for Public Partnerships and Research (CPPR) will work alongside SENT to evaluate and document the model, identify what is working, understand how participants move through the service pathway, and capture lessons that can strengthen the work over time and inform future replication.
“This initiative creates an important opportunity to learn not only whether the model works, but how and why it works for families navigating complex financial barriers. By evaluating the participant experience, documenting how services work together, and making sense of the findings alongside SENT and community partners, we can strengthen the model as it develops and identify lessons that may benefit communities across Kansas.” – Jared Barton, PhD, MSW, Director, Center for Public Partnerships and Research, University of Kansas
Kansas Holistic Defenders will bring legal expertise to barriers that financial coaching alone cannot solve. Debt collection, garnishment, eviction risk, municipal fines and fees, criminal justice debt and other legal issues can undermine a family’s financial progress even when that family is working toward greater stability.
“The clients we serve require services that go beyond the four corners of the courtroom to succeed and thrive, which is why we are thrilled to partner with SENT on this project. Kansas Holistic Defenders and SENT share a philosophy that our solutions to poverty need to be holistic. This project combines legal advice and representation to help people fight unjust debts, with long-term supports that help ensure financial stability, achieving more through partnership than any organization could do alone.” – Sam Allison-Natale, Executive Director, Kansas Holistic Defenders
SENT also plans to work with KHF and a local credit union partner to explore a fair-credit debt transformation pathway that could give families trapped in pay-day loan debt a practical path toward more manageable repayment while pairing financial relief with coaching and long-term planning.
ABOUT SENT, INC.
SENT, Inc. (Strengthening & Equipping Neighborhoods Together) is a place-based community development organization founded in 2018 and rooted in Southeast Topeka’s Hi-Crest neighborhood. SENT operates a Family Resource Center model that connects neighbors to integrated, relationship-based supports across housing, education, food access, health, mental health, recovery, transportation, workforce development and family stability. SENT’s work is designed to connect immediate stabilization with long-term opportunity and upward mobility.
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