Couple donates $800,000 for KU Law School

July 3, 2012

A $31,000 gift from the government of Mexico for the University of Kansas Medical Center addresses health disparities of Latinos in the Kansas City area and in southwest Kansas.

The gift will provide support for the medical center’s Juntos Center for Advancing Latino Health.

Paula Cupertino, Ph.D., directs the Juntos Center, which was named for the Spanish word meaning “together.” In the past six years, the center has developed a community-based infrastructure for research and community engagement to focus on the Latino community’s health-care needs, including cancer prevention, diabetes, smoking cessation and immunizations.

“With this new line of funding, we are expanding our efforts to a region that has a high concentration of Latinos,” said Cupertino. “While our country has about 26 percent Latinos, with these funds, we go to areas that are 55 to 57 percent, helping us to expand geographically. Through the Juntos Center, we bring KU Medical Center to underserved areas. We are shortening the distance between the southwest communities and our medical center, and vice versa.”

Besides this gift, in the past two years, the government of Mexico has provided an additional $15,000 to KU Endowment in support for the Juntos Center.

The gifts are part of Far Above: The Campaign for Kansas, the university’s comprehensive fundraising campaign.

The campaign is managed by KU Endowment, the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment was the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

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July 3, 2012