Audé Negrete, Executive Director, Kansas Latino Community Network

Audé Negrete serves as the executive director of the Kansas Latino Community Network, an organization that works to improve health equity by empowering Latinos through nonpartisan civic engagement, leadership development and coalition building.

Audé’s passion for civic engagement began at her grandmother’s kitchen table when she was 7 years old. The moment Audé learned to read, her grandmother started asking her to read the newspaper every Sunday while cooking and eating breakfast. Current events, politics and even sad news articles were part of her weekend routine with her grandmother, where she began to understand the importance of civic engagement and how it impacts our communities.

She has carried that passion throughout her career, first interning in college for the Honorable Delia Garcia at the Kansas State House in 2007. She helped promote Latino civic engagement, assisted with policy at the Kansas Legislature and helped with Latina Leadership events at the Capitol.

After graduating from college, she began working in political campaigns in Kansas. She even went on to serve as the Kansas state director for a presidential campaign, where she led statewide campaign operations and achieved significant success through strategic planning and effective team management.

In between her roles on political campaigns, she gained experience as a community organizer, working for CASA de Maryland. She recruited and trained volunteers, as well as advanced community advocacy efforts.

​Upon leaving campaign work, Audé began a position at El Centro Inc., where she expanded office operations, developed outreach programs and managed volunteers.

She then joined the private sector, where she managed a bilingual team providing online content and online marketing services to Latino businesses.

​She then became executive director of the Kansas Hispanic and Latino American Affairs Commission, serving as a vital liaison between the Hispanic community and the governor’s office. They addressed health needs during the COVID-19 pandemic and implemented culturally relevant programs. She then served as a community partnerships and engagement consultant at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, enhancing community-led health initiatives before launching the Kansas Latino Community Network.

Mike Matson is a lifelong Kansan whose career has touched various aspects of communications: radio and TV news, press secretary to a governor, systems advocacy, newspaper columnist, deejay and podcast/radio talk show host.

He also has authored two books that center on alcoholism – one a family memoir of growing up in an alcoholic home and one about his own story of addiction.

In this episode, he discusses his journey into broadcasting and the various paths his career has taken – including as the press secretary for former Kansas Gov. Bill Graves.

Today, he is semi-retired but hosts a live daily radio talk show/podcast created to foster critical thinking and writes a column for his local newspaper, The Manhattan Mercury.

Haley Kottler serves as the thriving and integrated voter engagement director at Kansas Appleseed.

Haley, a proud Kansas native born in Wichita, oversees Kansas Appleseed’s anti-hunger advocacy and economic justice work across the state.

She engages with Kansans in anti-hunger advocacy, leading grassroots campaigns and making the case for change through policy and legislative action. Her fight for justice is rooted in a devotion to equity and fairness for all.

In this episode, she discusses what food insecurity means and food-assistance programs that are available.

She highlights the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, and how it’s the most effective way to address food insecurity in Kansas and across the country.

She shares how current proposed legislation poses substantial threats to the program and could terminate benefits for millions of people and further strain state budgets.

Listen now, and learn more about Haley’s journey into advocacy and her efforts to improve access to food for Kansas families.