JCBF PRESIDENT’S PAGE Hon. K. Christopher Jayaram, 2023 JCBF President
TOGETHER, WE CAN CHANGE THE MADNESS
break allows some uninterrupted time with family, St. Patrick’s Day (one of my favorite holidays), and the annual ritual in my household of March Madness/NCAA bracketology. But, for as much as there is to be grateful, I want to, instead, take a few minutes to discuss something that I learned that is also “madness” in my eyes. I grew up here in the Johnson County
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area, and my family had what I consider to be a pret y middle-class life. My par- ents worked hard and made sure we never lacked for essentials, and my siblings and I generally were able to participate in activi- ties about which we were passionate. How- ever, I know now that this is simply not the case for all in Johnson County—despite the reputation as being a more-affl uent suburban community here in the Mid- west. Unfortunately, while there are broad segments of our local community that are fi nancially independent and stable, there is an increasing population in our communi- ty that are less so and need a helping hand. T is has become particularly pronounced
ell, it’s one of my favorite times of year:
Spring. T e weath- er isn’t quite so cold, spring
over the past several years, as we navigated through the pandemic. In reviewing recent census data, just over 20% of Johnson County residents were con- sidered “low income” or were living in “pov- erty” or “extreme poverty” in 2019—pre pandemic. T at, in and of itself, was shock- ing to me. One out of every fi ve citizens in our community fell into those categories. Most of those people reside in single-adult households, and many of them are children and young adults under the age of 24. Not surprisingly, the pandemic has made things worse for this at-risk segment of our com- munity. T e most recent data, which is from 2021, suggests that those combined numbers have increased to almost 25% of Johnson County residents are now living in those circumstances. T is is true, in spite of the historically low levels of unem- ployment we are experiencing here. I was fairly stunned when I learned of these num- bers, as they don’t completely jibe with my pre-conceived notions of where I grew up. But, what can we, as citizens and members of the Johnson County bar, do about it? Here’s the good news. T ere are any num- ber of wonderful local organizations that work to support disadvantaged segments of our community, including those focused on women and children. I’m pleased to report that this past year we, as a Foundation and the charitable arm of this Bar Association, have been able to support organizations
such as Growing Futures Early Education Center (formerly Head Start), Kansas Children’s Service League, and Giving the Basics, Inc. to name a few, awarding tens of thousands of dollars in grants to support their respective missions. We continue to look for and encour-
age applications from deserving area non-profi t organizations that fall within our mission. If you know of any, please di- rect them to the Foundation and encour- age them to apply. Also, if you haven’t yet joined us in supporting our mission, please consider it. T ere are any number of ways to get involved, and all of the in- formation is available online. You can see more about who we are and what we do at:
www.johnsoncountybarfoundation. org. Or just call or email me or any of our other fantastic Trustees. Together, we can continue working to address, and ulti- mately end, this type of “madness” in our community. Step by step, day by day, we’ll make a diff erence—together. Cheers, and I’ll look forward to seeing
you at the Wines & Vines event on June 14th, or just out and about.
6 the barletter May/June 2023
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