Crowd-Sourced Policy Ideas Win Challenge In Kansas City

Press release from the City of Kansas City:

August 3, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 3, 2020

The city recently launched another way for residents to become more involved in policymaking, and the results of the first one-month challenge are in!

Mayor Quinton Lucas will discuss the top three policy ideas suggested by the community during a Facebook live session on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020, at 5:30 p.m.

Three policies gathered the most support:

• Require patrons to wear masks in grocery, hardware and convenience stores
• Automatic voter registration in Kansas City
• Independent, community-based review board to review police misconduct

“Due to COVID-19, in-person interactions have been severely limited, making it more difficult to connect with our community about their needs and concerns at a time when we need to be hearing their feedback the most," Mayor Lucas said. "Now more than ever, it’s imperative we use every tool at our disposal to engage with our community on the critical issues facing our city, and I appreciate that LawMaker has provided Kansas City residents a safe and easy way to share their policy ideas and opinions directly with their elected officials.”

The city partnered with LawMaker to conduct the challenge, which focused on how Kansas City can recover from the coronavirus pandemic and make the city stronger and more supportive of its residents in the future.

As the challenge started on June 1, the current social justice movement gathered steam, and we expanded the challenge to include this topic.

The one-month challenge is a pilot program that may determine whether the LawMaker platform becomes the city’s new virtual town hall. LawMaker provides a transparent, easy-to-use way for residents to suggest policy ideas and gather public support while city leaders listen and hear feedback on those grassroots ideas.

About 400 people registered and participated in the challenge. Our goal is to help residents become more involved in the city’s decision-making. LawMaker was selected for the pilot through InnovateKC, a program run by the City Manager’s Office to help startups test new ways to help the city better deliver our services to residents.

Creating a new virtual town hall is part of our SpeakEasy KC community engagement efforts. So speak easy KC, because being heard shouldn’t be hard.

For more information about the LawMaker or InnovateKC, contact Chris Hernandez, City Communications Director at 816-787-1507.

This press release was produced by the City of Kansas City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.