Kansas City foundation supports KU First campaign

A Kansas City Foundation has pledged $1 million to recruit the director for the new Center for Urban Child Health at the University of Kansas, KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway announced today.

The Sosland Foundation, with special funding provided by the late Blanche K. Sosland, made the pledge to the Kansas University Endowment Association to establish the Sosland Family Professorship in Urban Child Health. The interest earned on the fund will be eligible for matching support from the state through the Kansas Partnership for Faculty of Distinction Program.

The gift counts toward the $500 million goal of KU First: Invest in Excellence, the largest fund-raising campaign in KU history.

Hemenway said the Sosland Foundation was providing an excellent resource for the community.

"This professorship will attract the expertise needed to help the most vulnerable members of society - our children," he said.

The well-being of Kansas City children has been in the news since a local organization gave the area a C+ for its treatment of children. Kansas City's Partnership for Children, a 10-year-old organization of Kansas City local philanthropic and business leaders, gave area children's well-being a mediocre grade in the areas of safety, security, health, education and adolescence.

"The Sosland Family Professorship will help recruit an expert who can lead the Center for Urban Child Health in studies and programs to improve that grade," said Jasjit S. Ahluwalia, M.D., chair of preventive medicine at KU Medical Center.

The Sosland Family Professor will serve as the director of the recently established Center for Urban Child Health at the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan. Under the direction of the School of Medicine, the center will conduct research in public health, offer health promotion and disease prevention programs in the community and help educate KU medical, nursing, allied health and public health students. Only a handful of the nation's medical schools have centers dedicated to urban health, Ahluwalia said.

Because many factors affect the health of children - violence, housing, substance abuse, pollution and public policy, to name a few - the center will tap the expertise of several KU divisions, including architecture and urban design, social welfare, journalism, law and pediatrics. In addition, several Kansas City area hospitals and educational institutions are expected to participate. In all, it is a $4.5 million endeavor.

Morton I. Sosland, chair of Sosland Companies, Inc., and president of the Sosland Foundation, said improving children's health is a priority for the foundation.

"A long family relationship with the KU Medical Center, including high regard for several members of the staff, prompted the decision to support this program," he said. "In addition, the focus in the professorship on improving the health of children in the metropolitan area fits exactly with one of our priority areas for foundation support."

Sosland is a member of the School of Medicine Campaign Committee for KU First.

Founded in 1947, the Sosland Foundation supports a variety of areas including social welfare, education, community health, arts and culture, and the Jewish community.

KU Endowment is conducting KU First through 2004 to raise funds for scholarships, fellowships, professorships, capital projects and program support for the university. KU Endowment is an independent, non-profit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management organization for KU.

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