Dawn Downes is responsible for program development and grants administration in the Foundation’s funding priority areas of oral health, mental health and safety net services, as well as for special initiatives. Downes joined REACH in 2007 to direct the Foundation’s first initiative, Project Ready Smile, a three-year, joint children’s oral health project of the REACH Foundation and Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.

Downes previously developed and directed community education programs on child abuse and child protection for Sunflower House, a child abuse prevention and child advocacy organization that serves Johnson and Wyandotte counties. She has a background in child development and parent support for at-risk families. Downes was born and raised in northern Iowa, but has called the Kansas City metro area home for the past 13 years. Along with her husband, two children and dog, she resides in Olathe.