One KC Voice News
New chair for One KC Voice advisory committee
January 2008
One KC Voice is proud to announce the appointment of its new chair, Linda Quinn, who will assume leadership of the program's advisory committee. She has served as vice-chair of the committee for the past several years, and stepped into her new role in January 2008.
Quinn has been the program director for KCK Study Circles since 2006, and before that acted as the program's coordinator. Quinn also took part in the Kauffman Foundation's Kansas City Forums in 2002.
View the other members of the One KC Voice advisory committee.
Facilitator training sessions announced for January
December 2007
One KC Voice’s three-track Facilitator Training is designed to give both new and returning facilitators the skills they need to lead discussions effectively in a variety of settings. Participants can take only one course or all three. The training is free, but all participants will be asked to volunteer several hours to One KC Voice. The three sessions are:
- Track I: The Basics (Jan. 23 | 1-5 p.m.) - An introduction or review of basic facilitation techniques. Topics include the purpose of facilitation, how to address disruptive behavior, and tips for equal participation. (Instructor: Dan Blom)
- Track II: Advanced* (Jan. 29 | 1-5 p.m.) - Role play your skills for an experienced facilitator using a real One KC Voice script. At the end of this experiential course, you’ll have a clear idea of how to take your facilitation skills to the next level. (Instructor: Jen Wilding)
- Track III: Cross-Cultural Facilitation (Jan. 30 | 1-5 p.m.) - Part of being a facilitator is initiating dialogue across cultures. Participants in this course will gain an understanding of cross-cultural dynamics and learn how to use cultural cues to set expectations in multicultural settings. (Instructor: Darryck Dean)
The sessions are being conducted in partnership with Kansas City Consensus and Harmony. All sessions will be held at MARC's office, 600 Broadway, Kansas City, Mo. (click for map)
RSVPs are required; e-mail One KC Voice to sign up. For more information, contact Liana Riesinger.
* Required for One KC Voice program facilitators.
Leavenworth, Kan., public transit engagement postponed
December 2007
Due to snow and ice on Greater Kansas City's roads, the public transit community discussion scheduled for Dec. 6 in Leavenworth has been postponed. The event will be rescheduled and details will be available soon online and via One KC Voice's e-newsletter.
For more information, contact Liana Riesinger.
Citizen workshops scheduled for December
November 2007
The public transit citizen engagement series will soon enter its second phase.
On Dec. 10 and 12, two hands-on workshops will give citizens the opportunity to show transit experts their visions for coordinated service. Participants will help identify regional centers of activity, potential rail and bus routes, and corridors for public transit infrastructure. Both workshops are identical and open to the public.
The third phase of the public transit project, which begins in January, will engage elected officials in policy workshops that introduce the results from One KC Voice's regional public input process. The feedback from the community discussions, citizen and policy workshops, and online discussions and surveys will be incorporated into the project's final report, which is due out in early 2008. All input will be used to update the Smart Moves Regional Transit Plan.
For more information on travelling to the workshops by bus, please call the Regional Call Center, 816/221-0660, or visit the KCATA's online Trip Planner.
RSVPs are not required but strongly encouraged to help organizers plan for the event. To RSVP, please send an e-mail with your name and the date you will attend in the body to swilliams@marc.org.
If you need special accommodations, please send an e-mail or call 816/474-4240 at least 48 hours in advance. For questions about the workshops, please call 816/474-4240.
For more information, visit onekcvoice.org or contact Liana Riesinger.
Wyandotte County, Kan., solid waste discussions
November
2007
One
KC Voice will schedule eight community discussions about solid waste
in Wyandotte County beginning in late January 2008. The discussions will
explore residents' values and perceptions about solid waste reduction
strategies, such as recycling. The feedback from the dialogues will
help the Unified Government
of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan., develop programmatic and
communications strategies related to its solid waste reduction programs.
One KC Voice and the Unified Government are working together to identify
eight geographic areas where input will be sought.
The Wyandotte County discussions will contribute to a larger regional solid waste public input project, which will begin in February 2008. That set of engagements is being conducted with a grant from the Mid-America Regional Council's Solid Waste Management District.
For more information on the Wyandotte County solid waste engagements, contact 816/701-8269.
Facilitator training to take place in January 2008
November 2007
New and returning facilitators and recorders will have the chance to sharpen their skills at an upcoming One KC Voice training session that will be scheduled for January. There is no cost to attend this training.
The training will introduce or review basic facilitation techniques and offer facilitators and recorders more tools to use at program engagements and in a variety of other settings. The training will include a special section on race relations, which will focus on cultivating sensitivity to cultural diversity in topical community discussions.
Attendees will have the chance to role play their facilitation skills for feedback from a certified facilitator. In return for this free training opportunity, those who attend are asked to commit to facilitating or recording a One KC Voice community discussion in the future.
Look for more information in the next edition of the One KC Voice e-newsletter. For more information on One KC Voice facilitation training, call 816/701-8269.
One KC Voice to engage citizens on public transit
September 2007
One KC Voice is in the process of scheduling 25 public engagements this fall that will solicit input on public transit.
With the aid of a $139,000 grant to support an update to the Smart Moves Regional Transit Plan, engagements will be held in seven counties across the region. The results of the engagements will be used to inform the update of the Smart Moves plan. The timing of these engagements is even more important in light of Kansas City, Mo.’s, November 2006 voter-approved light rail ballot measure that may reappear on the February 2008 ballot.
"We feel the timing of these engagements is such that the public’s input will have a significant impact on the decisions being made by local leadership,” Liana Riesinger, One KC Voice coordinator, says. “One KC Voice is about making the voices of all Greater Kansas Citians heard in decision-making processes."
One KC Voice will schedule engagements through its network of local community and citizens’ organizations. To join the network or learn more about hosting a meeting, contact Liana Riesinger. To view a schedule of engagements, visit our events page.
For more information, contact One KC Voice.