"Helping strategies, if indeed they are to be ultimately helpful, demand careful examination of long-term implications. There is no guarantee that unexamined charity will have a redemptive outcome simply because it ‘seems right’ or feels good to the giver."
- Robert D. Lupton, Charity Detox
Modeling Our Way Toward Health
At the beginning of 2025, I sat down with the newly released America’s Health Rankings and felt a genuine sense of encouragement. Kansas had moved from #29 to #28 in […]
Why Hi-Crest Is Not the Exception
Recently, the work of SENT in the Hi-Crest neighborhood was recognized by the Kansas Department of Commerce through the Community Empowerment Program with its highest designation, Community of Excellence. We […]
📢 SENT Inc. Newsletter: Does Mixed-Income Housing Displace Residents?
A Thoughtful Look at Research and Our Practice This is a question we hear often, and it is a fair one. When people have seen neighborhoods change without protections, it […]
Does Mixed-Income Housing Displace Residents?
A Thoughtful Look at Research and Our Practice This is a question we hear often, and it is a fair one. When people have seen neighborhoods change without protections, it […]
Financial Health of Topeka with additional data on Blacks in Topeka – December 2025
(Using Shawnee County – Central / Topeka City data as the closest ZIP-level proxy) Source: Urban Institute, Financial Health & Wealth Dashboard (2025). Daily Finances 27% of residents have delinquent […]
The Crisis We Don’t Want to See, and the Hope We Cannot Ignore
I struggle with the tension. In Topeka and in communities like ours across the country, we are caught between two competing realities. The first is the one splashed across headlines: […]
More Homes, More Stability: Why SENT Is Using Manufactured and Panelized Housing in 2026
In almost every community conversation about housing, someone eventually says some version of: “We need affordable housing, but we don’t want those kinds of homes.” I understand where that fear […]
A Stable Home Is One of the Strongest Investments a Community Can Make
At SENT, we often say that housing is not just shelter. It is health infrastructure. It is education infrastructure. It is economic infrastructure. Johnson-Betts Meadows was designed with this belief […]
Does Mixed-Income Housing Displace Residents? A Thoughtful Look at Research and Our Practice
This is a question we hear often, and it is a fair one. When people have seen neighborhoods change without protections, it makes sense to ask whether new housing, even […]
📢 SENT Inc. Newsletter: How Oh Snap! Helped Feed Shawnee County This Fall
As we step into December, we’re reflecting with deep gratitude on a season marked by extraordinary collaboration and community care. When SNAP benefits were temporarily suspended this fall, thousands of […]
PRESS RELEASE: SENT Inc. Announces New Teacher Housing Stability and Retention Initiative
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SENT Inc. Announces New Teacher Housing Stability and Retention Initiative to Strengthen Schools, Support Educators, and Build Healthier Neighborhoods Topeka, KS — [January 2026] — SENT Inc. […]
We Get What We Measure: Why Prevention Must Become Kansas’ New Standard for Safety and Well Being
We are again mourning the loss of life in our city. Once more, we are confronted with the reality that violence in Topeka is not an isolated event. It is […]
Why a Wrap-Around Model Works: Moving the Needle on Thriving in Topeka
Every day, neighbors walk through SENT’s doors carrying stories that span far beyond a single need. A mother searching for stable housing is also trying to find child care so […]
SENT Inc. Newsletter: Building Pathways of Purpose – SENT’s Workforce Development Expands
At SENT, we believe that transformation happens when people are given both opportunity and support. That’s why we’re so excited to share about a new chapter in our Workforce Development […]
Investing in Prevention: How SENT Is Redefining Community Health and Stability
Communities across the nation are being entrusted with an unprecedented opportunity — to transform the lessons of the opioid crisis into long-term investments that prevent future harm before it begins. […]
Why Food Security Is the Starting Point: How The Southside Filling Station Powers SENT’s Wraparound Model
At SENT, we don’t believe food security is the finish line. We believe it is the front door. For many neighbors, the Southside Filling Station is the first place they […]
Read More about Why Food Security Is the Starting Point: How The Southside Filling Station Powers SENT’s Wraparound Model