3,808 Referrals: Real People, Real Problems, Real Assistance'ALIVE & GETTING BETTER' — The social services referral program COMBAT introduced in mid-2021 reached, in early 2025, 3,808 referrals submitted. The program connects people like Sasha, a Kansas City mother of three, with community resources offering what can be life-changing, even life-saving assistance. Sasha has found not only treatment for her substance use disorder but genuine inspiration through being connected to the Greater Recovery program at the Greater Metropolitan Church of Christ in Midtown KC. “I’m not some important, rich person, but I have my sobriety,” says Sasha. “I have love. I feel good today. I have these people to help and encourage me. I have God. I am alive and getting better.”

COMBAT's STRiVIN' Referral Program Making A Real Difference

Joe Loudon • COMBAT Communications Administrator

MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2025

Sasha was scared. Traumatized from spending her teenage years in multiple foster homes, the Kansas City mother of three feared losing her own kids “to the system.”

But last fall Sasha knew, without treatment, she risked losing everything to addiction.

“When I moved to Kansas City from New York in 2019, I was sober for the first time in a long time,” she says. “But I was like an inactive volcano that was getting ready to erupt.

“By December of 2022, I was using drugs again. Weed was now legal, which didn’t help me, and I started drinking again. Last fall, my hair started falling out. I was going through so much.”

Still, she was hesitant to seek help. Then an helping hand was extended to her in the form of a STRiVIN’ social services referral.

“I was so afraid if I tried to get help my kids would be taken away from me.” Sasha has three sons. “I guess you could say I needed help to start getting help.”

Unmet Needs & High Crime

Since being referred, Sasha has been participating in the Greater Recovery program at the Greater Metropolitan Church of Christ in Kansas City.

“Here I’ve learned you have to actively be the change,” she says, sitting in a conference room at the church, which serves as the headquarters for Greater Impact, the Midtown Kansas City STRiVIN’ hub agency. “I want my one-year sobriety chip but will have to get there one day at a time. I want to make it for my kids.”

Sasha’s referral is only one of 3,808 made from the inception of the referral program in 2021 through March 5, 2025.

“We used crime statistics to identify neighborhoods where the STRiVIN’ initiate was needed most,” COMBAT Executive Director Vince Ortega points out. “Through the referral program we’ve been able to collect a different kind of data. We’re finding out what the needs are of the people living in these neighborhoods. People are struggling. Look at the needs of those being referred. Our objective is to get them assistance before their circumstances worsen.”

This article was originally published in the 2024 COMBAT Community Impact Report. 

‘One of the best ways to reduce crime... is to reduce the despair in people’s lives.’

STRiVIN' Referrals Needs3,808 REFERRALS SUBMITTED — Data collected from the 3,808 referral submissions from start of the program July 1, 2021 through March 5, 2025.

Pilot Program Takes Off

COMBAT began accepting referrals as part of a pilot program it launched in Raytown during the summer of 2021. The initial focus was on police officers using their phones to complete a simple online form and clicking SUBMIT. Those referrals were directed to the Raytown STRiVIN’ hub agency, Sisters In Christ, for  the crucial follow-up assessments.

What started with 57 referrals in 2021 quickly expanded throughout Jackson County, with hub agencies in Independence (Community Services League), Northeast Kansas City (Mattie Rhodes Center), South Kansas City (Hickman Mills Prevention Coalition) and eventually Midtown Kansas City (Greater Impact). The number of referrals has grown exponentially every year:

YEARREFERRALS
202157
2022567
2023953
20241,902


That first summer, Raytown Police Chief Robert Kuehl praised the program for “bridging the gap” between law enforcement and social services. Sisters In Christ Executive Director Carolyn Whitney, meanwhile, explained the process: 

“What we are able to do if we get a referral from the police is to do a more intimate assessment, try to get to the root cause of the situation. Then we refer the person to all the resources out there so that they can get the help they need—mental health services, addiction treatment, maybe help just getting enough food in the house. Then maybe the police officer never has to come back knocking on that door again.”

Whitney added, “One of the best ways to reduce crime in the community is to reduce the despair in people’s lives.”

STRiVIN' Referrals Charts: Age, Gender & Race

‘Death was creeping up on me.’

Connecting The Dots

Frank Stokes reached such a point of despair last fall that he literally laid down in the middle of the street at 12th & Prospect in Kansas City. Better the police take him to jail, he thought, than returning to the tent he’d been living in—his only company being a frightened rabbit and the coyote “that had his eyes on the rabbit.”

Instead, the police transported Frank to the hospital, where Greater Impact’s staff visited him after a STRiVIN’ referral was made on his behalf. Where would the 57-year-old be today if not for that referral?

“Probably dead,” he says. “I’d lost everything. Death was creeping up on me.”

Greater Impact’s assessment led to Frank receiving services through two other agencies that COMBAT provides funding, ReDiscover and reStart. His fresh start has included housing assistance, meeting a most basic need, so that he could concentrate more completely on his substance use disorder treatment.

“I’m taking classes, in rehab and anger management, and now have a roof over my head,” Frank says. “This gives me another chance at life.”

“We’re talking about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, here,” stresses Sharee Mims, Greater Impact’s Clinical Director. “It starts with the basic need for survival. When people aren’t getting those needs met, they can lose hope. They begin to look at themselves as being lost causes. Sometimes the starting point is helping a person feel safe, get fed, find housing.

“You have to show them there is compassion and empathy for them in their community.”

Frank Stokes and Chalmers Richardson

Frank Stokes (left) and Greater Impact Community Outreach Specialist Chalmers Richardson

‘There are people alive today because of their STRiVIN’ referral.’

Focusing On Victims 

Today, the STRiVIN’ hub agencies receive referrals from police officers, school administrators, COMBAT staff and others—in addition to occasional self-referrals. Save KC and the Kansas City Police Department’s Shoot Review committee submit referrals for every victim of a non-fatal shooting and each homicide victim’s surviving family.

All of those referrals are submitted to Greater Impact, which will then route them, if needed, to other hub agencies.

“This is something most other communities in this country can’t do,” Ortega says. “They might give victims a list of resources or a counselor’s phone number. We can do more in Jackson County, our community, because we have COMBAT.”

When initially contacting shooting victims or grieving families, the Greater Impact staff “leads with our humanness,” according to Mims.

“It really starts with letting people know we’ll be there for them,” she says. “Our shooting survivors and, of course, homicide families have been through such a traumatic event. Like a lot of our clients, asking them, ‘How are you really doing?’ can lead to a 25-minute conversation that gives us a better understanding of what they need. We earn their trust and keep it by continually following up with them.

“The impact of a program like this might not show up in the crime stats for five years or more, but we know there are people alive today because of their STRiVIN’ referral.”