Geography: Kansas City

Kansas City is a large city, a major city in one of the largest metropolitan areas of more than two million people on both sides of the Missouri–Kansas border.

Kansas City was founded in 1838 at the meeting of the Missouri and Kansas rivers and was incorporated in its present form in 1853. Kansas City, Kansas, is the location of several important battles during the Civil War. The city is well known for its diverse offerings to the musical styles of jazz and blues as well as to its two most noted cuisine, Kansas City strip steak and Kansas City-style barbecue.

The city has five level one trauma hospitals, one being the Children’s Mercy Hospital which specializes in pediatrics. Children’s Mercy Hospital also obtains a personal fleet of pediatric ambulances and rescue helicopter.

Kansas City, Missouri is located on the border of the "Tornado Alley", an area where cooler air from the Rocky Mountains intermeshes with warm air from the Gulf of Mexico. This forms powerful storms especially during the spring and fall. Only some areas of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area have had some severe occurrences of tornadoes. This same region can also be subject to intermittent ice and snow storms during the winter months.

According to the 2010 census, the racial composition of Kansas City was as follows:

• White: 59.2% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 54.9%)

• Black or African American: 29.9%

• Hispanic or Latino (of any race): 10.0%

• Some other race: 4.5% (primarily Latino)

• Two or more races: 3.2%

• Asian: 2.5%

• Native American: 0.5%

• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.2%

Kansas City has the second biggest Sudanese and Somalian population in the United States. The city also has a diverse Latino/Hispanic population, which is mostly Mex...

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...program of nationwide health-promotion and disease-prevention goals set by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The goals and objectives of Healthy People 2020 was predicated on a health system accessible to all Americans that would integrate personal health care and population-based public health activities. The goals were first set in 1979, for the following decade. The goals were subsequently updated for Healthy People 2000, Healthy People 2010, and Healthy People 2020. Healthy People 2020 was developed through a broad consultation process, built on the best scientific knowledge, and designed to measure programs over time. It is composed of 467 specific objectives organized into 28 focus areas, as well as two overarching goals. The two goals are "increase quality and years of healthy life" and "eliminate health disparities".