‘The office of transparency:’ Meet the man trying to connect more Kansas Citians to City Hall

Gary Jones’ first experience as a public servant was largely marked by long, hot days in the sun counting the number of bikes around Kansas City. In 2016, during his senior year of high school, he interned with Kansas City’s public works department and landed the important task of helping the city install more bike lanes.

Jones would go to different neighborhoods to count the number of people on the streetcar and the number of cyclists in an area to get an idea of where bike lanes would be most useful.

By the next year, he came home from his freshman year at University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff to find bike lanes in the same neighborhoods he canvassed.

“I felt a part of that because that was one of the things I was in charge of during my internship,” he said.

Fast forward a few years, different jobs and a degree later, Jones is now back in Kansas City serving in City Hall. But this time, he’s tasked with starting and building out a whole new office that is staffed just by him.

Jones is Kansas City’s new community engagement coordinator leading the Office of Citizen Engagement, a new office dedicated to connecting residents to city services and funding.

He said those days counting bikes showed him how resources are spread unevenly from neighborhood to neighborhood in Kansas City, giving him a perspective he’s keeping at the front of his mind in his new gig.

“Kansas City does not lack resources, we cannot say that,” Jones said. “But what we can say is accessibility is not on the table.”

He said that through programs like KCBizCare and others, the city has a lot of support available for residents, but it’s not always easy to get those resources to the people who need them most.

“I’m working on it now to make sure that accessibility is on the table,” Jones said.

As community engagement coordinator, Jones plans to connect residents to as many grant and funding opportunities as possible, whether it’s the local homeowner who needs a grant to help with home repairs or the grassroots nonprofit looking for help with start-up costs.

What is the Office of Citizen Engagement?

It’s a new office, born out of a March 2021 city council ordinance. When created, the city gave the office a number focus areas, including things like:

• Inform residents of city charter, ordinances and resolutions

• Offer programs to help people understand city finances and grants

• Perform outreach to inform residents of grants and programs

• Maintain an app to help provide services and increase awareness of grants and services available in other city departments.

• Work with the 311 call center to better reach and assist residents in need

Jones said there are basically two ways to describe the Office of Citizen Engagement: the office of transparency, and a one-stop-shop for the citizens.

As the office of transparency, Jones intends to be a liaison between the community and city hall. He’s also hoping to act as a one-stop-shop by making sure he can connect citizens with grant opportunities, information and services available at the city, regional and national level.

Fourth district Councilwoman Katheryn Shields said in the March 2021 council meeting that the program will “greatly strengthen and expand [the] existing 311 and really does move our efforts at city engagement to the next level.”

Jones will coordinate with other city departments to guarantee that he can promote all the city grant opportunities available and direct residents to the right program or grant for their needs.

His main focus will be helping residents access grant money, but in general, he plans to be a middleman between the community and city services.

“We are a liaison between department heads and the community itself,” he said.

The office is housed under the city’s Department of Neighborhood Services, which previously shared an office with the Housing and Community Development Department but became a stand-alone department in 2021.

What is the Department of Neighborhood Services?

In addition to the Office of Citizen Engagement, the Neighborhood Services Department also houses services like the city’s helpline 311, KCBizCare and the Neighborhood Tourism Department Fund.

Since becoming its own department, Neighborhood Services has taken on multiple initiatives to better connect with residents.

A few of those initiatives include improving neighborhood livability, developing community-centered solutions for how to enforce city codes and supporting efforts to beautify neighborhoods and keep them safe.

For example, the Neighborhood Department traditionally handles code enforcement. So, if weeds are growing too tall and a neighbor complains, that complaint would ultimately go to someone in the Neighborhood Services department.

“So you call and a code enforcement person comes out and writes a ticket to your neighbor who has high weeds, right? But what if the problem is really that their lawn mower broke last year and they don’t have the money to get a new one?” said Chris Hernandez, Kansas City Director of Communications.

“So if that’s the problem, how can we find that out and actually help them. So it’s really like [shifting] the focus of the department from ticketing and enforcement to more like support and help and make sure you get access to the resources that you need.”

A database and coaching to connect residents to grants

Jones said his first step will be to make sure that the Office of Citizen Engagement gathers as much information as possible on existing grants and programs. Then, he plans to make sure that information is readily accessible to the public.

Moving forward, he will be working to develop a database where Kansas Citians can find local, regional and national grants to help them with their respective projects or needs. He said the site will resemble KCBizCare and will be available to the public at the end of 2023.

Jones’ office plans to help people through the application process as well. He said many qualified applicants miss out on funding when applying to grants because they don’t have enough guidance.

“When you’re applying for a grant, you must make sure all your I’s are dotted and all your T’s are crossed before you apply for grants,” Jones said.

“Because if one thing is missing, then the grantor can not sign off on it or pass it to the next stage. So we want to make sure that organizations are not falling through the cracks.”

Jones said he’s seen many Black and brown community members lose out of funding due to mishaps during the application stage. To combat this, he plans to develop a tool that will also let applicants know where in their application they could be improved. Until then, he will be working with folks directly to make sure they have the guidance they need.

How do I get in touch?

If you are a resident, organizer or in a neighborhood association, and you need help finding funding or grants to support a project or effort, the Office of Citizen Engagement can be your first stop.

To get in touch with Jones, you can email OCE@kcmo.org.

If you have more general issues or community concerns and want to get in touch with the Neighborhood Services Department, you can visit here or call 311.

“At the end of the day, I want to make sure the community is being helped and the community is being heard. That’s the end goal,” Jones said.