The Global Hunger Crisis: Kansas City Responds
Kansas City Mayor Sylvester James, Jr. and United Nations Association of Greater Kansas City welcome special guest David Austin, Director of Strategic Partnerships with the UN World Food Programme. This year's dinner will explore the global hunger crisis and our community's response.
Hunger is the leading cause of death in the world. Our planet has provided us with tremendous resources, but unequal access and inefficient handling leaves millions of people malnourished. Kansas City is one of the nation’s leading agribusiness centers and is poised to take a leadership role in addressing the crisis. According to the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City, agriculture and its related businesses generate about $30 billion in annual economic impact for our region, more than 20 percent of our Gross Regional Product.
Assisting 80 million people in around 80 countries each year, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. On any given day, WFP has 5,000 trucks, 20 ships and 92 planes on the move, delivering food and other assistance to those in most need. These numbers lie at the roots of WFP’s unparalleled reputation as an emergency responder, one that gets the job done quickly at scale in the most difficult environments.
Please join us for an important conversation about Kansas City’s vital role is assisting this irreplaceable effort.
Keynote Speaker David Austin is the Director of Strategic Partnerships with the UN World Food Programme. David works with U.S. based foundations and private sector leaders to strengthen WFP’s mission and accelerate the momentum of economic development to help reduce global poverty. David is a strong advocate for American humanitarian leadership and investing in young people to secure a robust and stable future.
2018 World Citizen: Brad Gautney
For about 10 years Brad has lived and worked in global health/HIV projects in Haiti and southern Africa. As a pediatric nurse practitioner and public health specialist, he and his family lived four years in Haiti pioneering low-resource HIV care, with particular attention to prevention of mother-to-child transmission of this infection. Today he leads Global Health Innovations, multiplying HIV care in Haiti and Africa with an emphasis on saving lives one village at a time.
