Kansas City Unites to Answer the Call

PUBLISHED MARCH 2024

Nearly one month following the mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade that resulted in 22 injuries and one death, leaders and organizations met to discuss the root cause of rising gun violence in Kansas City.

The Kansas City Public Safety Symposium was held on March 15-16 in the conference center of the Kauffman Foundation and featured an array of guest speakers who addressed statistics surrounding the rise in homicides in Kansas City. Over two hundred community members attended the event, a partnership of the City of Kansas City, The Empowerment Network, KC Common Good, and the Urban League of Greater Kansas City. 

Among the speakers was Chief Stacey Graves of the Kansas City Police Department, who presented crime-trend data from 2010 to 2023. Last year was the deadliest year in the city’s history, with 182 reported homicides.

“The urgency of the information and leaving this room today with action, purpose, and togetherness is needed more than ever,” Grave said. “The synergy and momentum that we have here together is what is going to make a difference here in Kansas City.”

Jean Peters Baker, Jackson County prosecutor, expressed concerns over the number of juveniles having access to legally concealed-carry firearms, as well as the loss of concealed-carry provisions in Missouri. In 2017, the Missouri House of Representatives failed to pass a proposal that would have banned children from carrying guns without adult supervision in a public setting. 

“When your community is used to certain laws in place and then no longer does, you’ve got to see what the impact of that is in the long term,” Baker said. “This is a real point on our calendar where something significant happened and it is a significant change to law enforcement and how they are allowed to do their jobs.”

The Action Plan

When it comes to gun violence in Kansas City, there is more than one way to reduce it, and in any case, that task should not be left for only law enforcement to solve, said Klassie Alcine, CEO of KC Common Good. 

A working draft for a 10-point action plan, created by KC Common Good and KC 360, was presented; it is framed on the pillars that Omaha 360 used after that city established its plan 15 years ago to reduce gun violence. In the years since, it has been recognized as a best practice approach by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Omaha action plan resulted in a 74 percent decrease in gun violence from 2008 to 2018, according to the Omaha Police Department. 

KC 360 said the transition of the Omaha plan into the Kansas City environment wouldn’t be simple and that a new strategy would cater to the Kansas City community’s needs. 

Officials echoed a goal of a 50 percent reduction in gun violence in the next five years. That milestone is more than obtainable if the community comes together, Alcine said. 

“That is what Kansas City has been craving for so long. What is the impact going to be, what we are tracking as a community and how are we holding each other accountable in tracking the progress in making sure we can reach that goal of 50 percent?” she said.

Achieving the goal requires funding and the philanthropic community’s response to a call for trust-based giving. Part of that solution is getting those with funds to join in awareness programs such as the symposium, according to Alcine. 

“This is not a process that will be fixed in two years,” she said. “It’s a long-term process, and with that, we need long-term approaches to funding.”

Lived Experiences/Root Causes

The symposium also allotted time to non-profit leaders and organizers to share their experiences with gangs and gun violence. The group’s panel discussion revolved around finding the root cause of why children turn to a life of violence. 

Kyle Hollins, founder and CEO of Lyrik’s Institution; Ossco Bolton, former executive director at the POSSE Program and motivational speaker; and Johnny Waller, a Kansas City activist, addressed the topic in a panel discussion. The trio shared moments from their lives that paint a picture of how youth are too often victims of gang indoctrination and their placement in marginalized communities. 

Waller, who at one point was convicted in a shooting, recalled his own turn to crime when he followed gang members to find a sense of purpose and family after struggling to find those aspects elsewhere. Surviving a gunshot to the head, selling drugs to his family members, and being incarcerated were just a few of the experiences he shared. 

A lack of a mentor figure was one example Waller provided as to why he believed he turned to crime. A lack of mentorship is a driving factor for Bolton and why he advocates for youth outreach. The other thing youths need more of according, to Bolton, is love.

“When you show up for young people, they’ll show out for you,” Bolton said. 

“What we are seeing now is kids carrying guns like we used to wear chains because it’s just another thing to have,” Hollins said. “Too often do we look in the branches for what we can only find in the roots.”

What’s Next

One word used by Willie Barney, founder and CEO of the Empowerment Network, to describe the event was “encouraging.” The energy and authenticity Kansas City members brought into the event was a big first step for Barney, but now he is eager to take this action plan and bring it to scale. 

“It takes the next step,” Barney said. “We have been developing this action plan, and we’ve laid that out now. Filling in the details and which organization can do what to sustain it is the next phase, but we also need to find out if we’ve missed anything and fill in any gaps. From a budget standpoint, what is going to be required to take it to scale.”