Neighborhood Conservation Program and NEC report: staff cites growing engagement and data-driven targeting

Neighborhood staff presented the annual Neighborhood Conservation Program and Neighborhood Executive Committee update with data on participation, grants, cleanups and a neighborhood indicators dashboard.

Neighborhood Programs Coordinator Alyssa Workman told the committee the Neighborhood Conservation Program covers 39 neighborhoods in the north city area; during 2024 there were 25 active neighborhoods, two organizing neighborhoods and 12 that were less active. The program provides mailers (staff said it produced 81 total mailers last year and staff designed 45 of them), grants, cleanups and other supports. Workman said the 2024 grant activity included 42 grants and that the city piloted "grant packages"—coordinated event packages such as food trucks—that proved popular and increased participation.

Workman said the city ran 14 neighborhood cleanup events in 2024 (two dumpsters paid per event as part of the program) and that interest required limited expansion of the program. The Neighborhood Executive Committee, a membership-based regional network, had 46 member organizations in 2024 with average meeting attendance of 82 people and a high of 98 participants; staff reported NEC attendance reached 100 in May 2025.

Brandon Duffy, neighborhood services supervisor, reviewed neighborhood indicators used to identify "risk watch" neighborhoods and target outreach. The indicators include crime (theft identified as the most common major crime), property-maintenance complaints, access to parkland (percentage living within a 10-minute walk), and housing cost burden metrics (HUD-defined rent and mortgage burden). Staff said rent burden is higher than mortgage burden in Overland Park. The indicators are compiled into five-year averages to create neighborhood priority lists; staff described 10 risk-watch neighborhoods identified for additional attention in 2024.

Committee members asked about inclusion of apartment residents, outreach to renters and use of NEC channels to publicize programs such as a new property-tax rebate. Staff said apartment addresses inside neighborhood boundaries are included in mailings and that staff will continue outreach to better include multifamily residents. Several council members praised staff for program growth, for running the NEC and for convening neighborhood leaders and said they would like staff to explore further outreach to apartment residents and to continue providing neighborhood profiles and year-to-year data.