Local Advocacy & Community Water Fluoridation
Presented by Megan Foreman and Stephanie Sharp
As established professionals in public health and advocacy, Megan Foreman and Stephanie Sharp will compare and contrast two local fluoride efforts, their successes and failures, and provide a framework to support fluoride in your local communities. This presentation is a look between the headlines about what lead to the campaign and what it takes to win fluoridation battles like these.
Megan Foreman directs the chronic disease prevention programs at the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment. This work aims to prevent conditions like diabetes and heart disease through partnerships and environmental changes to make the healthy choice the easy choice. Prior to this, Megan was the Policy Director at Oral Health Kansas, the state’s only advocacy organization dedicated to improving oral health. There, she was a member of a multi-disciplinary team that fought to keep fluoride in the community water supplies around the state. Ms. Foreman has over a decade of experience in non-profit management, health policy and advocacy. She serves on the board of the Kansas Public Health Association and is involved with the American Public Health Association.
Stephanie Sharp holds bachelor's degrees from Southwestern College in Winfield, KS and a master’s degree in international affairs and security policy from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Stephanie worked in the U.S. Senate and returned to Kansas as the government affairs director for the American Cancer Society. Later, she was elected to represent Lenexa and Shawnee in the Kansas House of Representatives for three terms. Ms. Sharp left the legislature in 2008 to further her career and start a family. In 2009, she was elected countywide to the first of two terms on the Johnson County Community College (JCCC) Board of Trustees. She founded Sharp Connections, LLC to spend more time “Translating Politics into English” for state and local elected officials and candidates.