Communities across America are searching for better ways to reduce violence while building trust, opportunity, and safer neighborhoods. At this year’s Rebuilding the Village Conference, leaders from cities across the country gathered to share one simple truth: lasting public safety happens when entire communities work together.
What Is Community Safety?
Community safety is more than reducing crime. It is creating the conditions where people, families, businesses, and neighborhoods can thrive. While law enforcement plays an important role, lasting public safety is built long before a crisis occurs through prevention, opportunity, and strong community partnerships.
A comprehensive community safety approach addresses the root causes of violence by bringing together residents, businesses, nonprofit organizations, educators, faith leaders, government agencies, and law enforcement around a shared goal: creating safer, healthier communities for everyone. It combines prevention, intervention, education, economic opportunity, neighborhood investment, youth engagement, and support services to reduce violence before it happens while helping communities recover and grow.
KC Common Good’s Roots and Pre-Conference Engagement
At KC Common Good, this philosophy is the foundation of KC 360, our collaborative network that’s proudly modeled after Omaha 360, a program in Nebraska led by the Empowerment Network. This network connects leaders across sectors to identify challenges, share resources, and coordinate solutions. By aligning public, private, nonprofit, and community partners, KC 360 demonstrates that meaningful progress happens when organizations work together rather than in isolation.
When communities invest in prevention, strengthen partnerships, and work toward shared outcomes, they don’t just respond to violence. They create safer neighborhoods where people can live, work, learn, and succeed together. That is what community safety looks like, and it is the future KC Common Good is working to build every day.
KC Common Good attendees also took part in the Pre-Conference, where partner cities met early at the Village Empowerment Center. These unique sessions provided the chance for deep connection, shared learning, and firsthand observation of the Empowerment Network’s impactful community work.
Empire Dreams Founder and KC 360 member, Kimberly Anne, joined members of the KC Common Good team and reflected, “Dollars in Omaha are strategically invested through targeted funnel systems of collaboration that address the root causes of community challenges, not the band-aid effects.”
About the “Rebuilding the Village” Conference
For nearly two decades, this conference has showcased some of the nation’s best evidence-based strategies with proven, measurable results. It connected not only Kansas City, but additional partner cities like Tulsa, New Orleans, Lansing, and global partners like Sierra Leone, sharing impactful approaches in education, housing, entrepreneurship, safety, economic mobility, and more.
Lessons in Community Safety from Omaha
A standout moment came from Omaha’s Chief of Police, Todd Schmaderer, who reflected candidly on public safety and the importance of comprehensive community safety models beyond traditional policing by building community trust and leveraging partnerships is key.
Omaha’s collaborative public safety approach continues to have reduced violence in key areas, yet the city remains determined to reach zero incidents. They also emphasized the goal of reducing arrests overall, particularly juvenile arrests, seeking to address the core causes of violence.
Kansas City Collaboration, Outcomes and Shared Success
One attendee from another partner city expressed the spirit of the conference: “When you find something that’s effective, lawful, and procedurally just, then you want to bring that back to your own city.” For KC Common Good, this exchange of proven ideas was invaluable.
Kansas City Is Demonstrating Community Safety Results
The results of this collective effort are becoming increasingly clear.
Gun violence in Kansas City is now at its lowest level in eight years. While no single program or organization can claim responsibility for this progress, it reflects what is possible when a community aligns around shared goals and coordinated action.
A significant contributor to this progress has been the City of Kansas City, Missouri’s historic $30 million investment in community violence prevention through the Violence Prevention Fund. This five-year commitment supports community-based organizations working directly in neighborhoods most impacted by violence through outreach, youth development, reentry services, mental and behavioral health programs, conflict mediation, and other evidence-informed prevention strategies. The investment reflects a growing recognition that public safety requires both prevention and intervention, not simply enforcement.
At the heart of this work is KC 360. Since its launch, the network has experienced a 24-fold increase in participation, connecting more than 600 individuals through weekly meetings, engaging more than 500 participants in workshops and trainings, and building a network of over 300 partner organizations committed to safer communities.
Trust is another important measure of progress. Among participants in community safety programming, 62 percent reported increased trust in law enforcement, demonstrating the value of relationship-building and consistent engagement between residents and public institutions.
Kansas City’s partners are also taking action at the neighborhood level. Together, organizations and residents have completed more than 10,000 community-based actions in neighborhoods most impacted by violence. These efforts range from outreach and mentoring to neighborhood cleanups, youth engagement, conflict mediation, and connecting residents to resources.
One of the most promising examples of community-led safety is the Village Initiative. What began in one neighborhood has expanded to two. Within the Village Zone, violence has been reduced by 44 percent, generating more than $180 million in taxpayer savings over the past two years while improving quality of life for residents. Learn more about our success in the first Village Zone in our blog.
The business community has also stepped forward in meaningful ways. Business partnerships focused on community safety and neighborhood investment have increased eightfold, bringing new resources, expertise, and opportunities to support community-driven solutions.
Young people are increasingly connected to positive opportunities as well. Participation in summer youth activities has increased by 7.5 times, helping create safe spaces, mentorship opportunities, and pathways to success for the next generation.
At the same time, investment in community-led public safety solutions has grown dramatically. Grants awarded to community-driven violence prevention and public safety initiatives have increased 20-fold, ensuring that organizations closest to the challenges have access to the resources needed to address them.
These outcomes remind us that community safety is not solely the responsibility of law enforcement or government. It is a shared responsibility that requires collaboration, trust, investment, and sustained commitment.
Kansas City still has work to do, but the progress being made demonstrates what is possible when public investment, community leadership, and cross-sector collaboration align around a common vision. Safer neighborhoods are created through relationships, opportunity, prevention, and partnership.
Three Lessons Kansas City is Taking Home
- Collaboration multiplies impact. Communities make faster progress when government, businesses, nonprofits, and residents work toward shared goals.
- Prevention is an investment, not an expense. Addressing root causes creates stronger neighborhoods and reduces long-term costs.
- Data drives better decisions. Measuring outcomes helps communities scale what works and continuously improve.
Moving Forward Together
Community safety is not achieved by one organization or one program. It is built through sustained collaboration, shared accountability, and a belief that every neighborhood deserves the opportunity to thrive. KC Common Good remains committed to bringing proven ideas, trusted partnerships, and measurable solutions back to Kansas City as we continue building safer communities together.
