MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: KC COMMON GOOD CREATES NEW COMMUNITY CONNECTOR

When it comes to opening new doors, KC Common Good (KCCG) President Klassie Alcine has a powerful belief.

"There is no wrong door,” she said. “We just need to have as many doors as possible and people need to be able to access those doors.”

Opening those doors can connect community members to resources, and Alcine knows that a lack of access to resources is one of the root causes of violence in the region. KCCG’s mission is to prevent violence in Greater Kansas City by addressing these root causes, which have been identified by The Kansas City Health Department as a lack of access to resources, repeated family trauma, concentrated poverty, high unemployment and high school dropout rates (KC Blueprint Report).

Through KCCG’s groundbreaking platform, Alcine is creating new doors. In October 2021, KCCG launched the Community Connector, a one-stop shop for thousands of resources, and the Community Calendar, which compiles scheduling and information for community events and initiatives.

The Community Connector is an online portal where users can choose a specific category or enter what they need assistance with, providing access to community services, financial assistance, government offices, addiction and mental health services, and more. KCCG aggregated these thousands of resources in partnership with United Way of Greater Kansas City 2-1-1 following two years of conversations with community members about services they needed most. The portal is designed to be anonymous, up-to-date and mobile-friendly, as 60% of users are currently accessing it through their phone.

“Access to information was the number one issue we found in Kansas City when it came to how we are addressing [those],” she said. “We’re really helping to reduce the stress that people are already under when they’re trying to find help and support.”

Since launching in early October, Alcine said the Community Connector has already made a positive impact. Personal accounts of the portal’s influence have already poured in: One user told Alcine she was able to access diapers for her toddler, another woman found mental health resources for a coworker’s daughter; another man even found a job.

"He was released from jail, saw a job fair on the Community Calendar and reported back to us he was able to find a job,” Alcine recalled. “Scenarios like these are critical micro-shifts in creating overall change, altering future behavior and breaking current cycles.”

The Community Calendar is a platform where organizations can post information on everything from job fairs and free library events to food drives, volunteer opportunities and more. Because everything within the platform is anonymous, there are no log-ins or passwords required. Visitors just search what they need. While they don’t track individual user information, KCCG collects data in the areas of the Connector and Calendar that are accessed most. This information allows them to see what people need in real-time to address gaps in the community. The data will then be analyzed over time to identify ways to make the portal more useful so the community can most effectively use it to distribute funding, collaborate on projects, and identify gaps where new and innovative opportunities are necessary.

In addition to community members, Alcine also envisions employees and CEOs using this tool to weave elements of change into the region’s business community. While the portal connects people to information and resources on a day-to-day basis, she knows it’s part of a bigger mission: to reduce violence in Kansas City and to ultimately save lives.

“We are at a crisis point with violence in our community,” she said. “People struggle to talk about what’s happening, but we must be transparent about it. My hope is this portal results in action because we don’t need any more task forces. The urgency is now.”