Event Date: Monday, March 16, 2020
Time: 6:00-8:00 pm
Location: Plexpod Crossroads, 1712 Main St, 2nd Floor, Kansas City, MO 64105, USA (use rear entrance in the alley between Main and Baltimore).
Admission: Free

Once a month, on 3rd Mondays, Code for KC hosts a “Learn Night,” where community members present information that is relevant to the Brigade–ongoing projects, vexing problems, or tutorials for new skill development.

This month’s Learn Night guest: Benita Jones, Public Information Officer, Kansas City Municipal Court

A KCUR story last fall reported a perception well-known to Code for KC’s project teams working on access to justic issues: “Courts are not generally a place where good things happen to people, and few would go by choice.” Motivated in part by a 41% failure-to-appear rate, the KCMO Municipal Court was one of six across the nation to participate in a public engagement pilot project led by the University of Nebraska’s Public Policy Insitute.

The goal of the pilot is to learn how courts can best engage the public to overcome social inequities and bias and build trust, and especially to reduce disparities in the courts based on race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.

Jones will talk about KCMO Court’s role as a national leader in proactive solutions and problem solving through civic engagement, as well as the nuts and bolts of the pilot project and what comes next.

We’ll have soda and light snacks on hand. Presentations and Q&A will run from 6:30-7:30.