Community Partners
The Kansas City team worked with a variety of government and community-based partners to help plan and spread the word about their initiative. Partners included:
- Kansas City Prosecutor’s Office
- City Manager’s Office
- Legal Aid of Western Missouri (Indigent defense providers)
- Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association
- Mid-America Regional Council
- The Kansas City Police Department
- Kansas City School District
- Victim advocacy representatives
- Neighborhood and civic groups
- Faith-based communities
Working with Stakeholders
The Kansas City team invited community stakeholders to planning meetings via email and letters, many of whom they had worked with previously.
Representatives from stakeholder groups provided outside perspectives about the legal system, helped refine the structure and discussion content, assisted with recruitment, and served as volunteer staff at the Kansas City engagement sessions. The Kansas City team developed a volunteer sign-up sheet to identify specific roles and responsibilities for staffing the engagement events.
Community Outreach
The Kansas City team spread the word about their engagement sessions through English and Spanish flyers posted at public gathering points and distributed via email blasts and social media (e.g., Facebook posts) to the wider community. They titled them “Speak Easy” events which is a brand that Kansas City uses for all city-sponsored public input opportunities.
Engaging High School Youth
The Kansas City team worked with a local high school – Southeast High – to convene a fourth engagement specifically aimed towards youth stakeholders (age 14-18).
The team first worked with instructors from Southeast High’s Restorative Justice program to coordinate interest in their initiative. The Restorative Justice class helps students who have been court-involved understand and address their actions. It also supports other at-risk youth through community building. The Restorative Justice class recruited students from other classes with an interest in the justice system to attend the engagement.
