In a first-of-its kind initiative, United Way of Greater Kansas City’s 211 resource and referral line is excited to announce a new partnership with Frontline Group, for a pilot project to deploy next-generation Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to enhance communication with the thousands who rely on the service locally each year. The program, Frontline Quest, will harness what are called Virtualized Conversations (vCons), aimed at transforming 211’s crisis response.
The 90-day pilot project started last month and will run through December. The technology provides several new tools previously unavailable via 211, including the ability to transcribe calls, structure insights from callers, and detect actionable “signals” for quality, safety and service improvement—all without compromising caller confidentiality. It allows every voice interaction to be captured as secure, searchable and context-rich digital assets, to serve community members faster, smarter and with even more empathy.
“This pilot is helping us move beyond traditional reporting metrics into something far more powerful: a living, learning system that supports our people, our partners and our purpose,” said Dr. Todd Jordan, United Way 211 Executive Director and Vice President of Community Impact.
During the initial pilot, Frontline Group is providing this enhanced technology at no cost to United Way of Greater Kansas City. Protecting caller confidentiality and data is foundational to this project. Using vCons, all identifiable information is removed and personal details redacted before AI processing occurs. Caller confidentiality is further safeguarded with United Way’s dedicated secure access setup, where access is strictly limited and no client information is shared with external systems.
“This isn’t just a technology upgrade. It’s a values-aligned transformation,” said Jill Blankenship, CEO of Frontline Group. “Frontline Quest was built to amplify human connection through intelligent care. In partnership with United Way of Greater Kansas City 211—we’re showing what’s possible when innovation is led by empathy and operationalized with integrity.”
Key Improvements to 211:
- Quality & Care Signals: Real-time indicators that help 211 supervisors to coach empathy and where Community Resource Specialists (call takers) may need additional help, including secondary trauma support
- Searchable Conversations: Instead of relying on boxes and notes, 211 staff can now search full conversations to answer urgent policy questions, the status of specific programs, and spot any trends among callers.
- Multilingual & Multichannel Reality: With translation provided via 211 in 150+ languages, vCon-backed transcription and analysis improves consistency across interpreters and channels—phone, web, email and more.
Why it Matters:
United Way 211 is committed to providing a robust, community resource and referral service, available 24//7 to neighbors in a 23-county area surrounding Kansas City, with a continuously updated database listing 7,000+ community resources. We’re always looking for ways to improve our processes to deliver the most exceptional level of service to those seeking assistance. This new technology is another tool in our toolbox to do so, that is secure, lean and humane—helping callers in crisis without forcing Community Resource Specialists to split attention between empathy and note-taking, with safeguards in place to protect sensitive data.
“We’re at the tip of something transformative,” Jordan said. “Real-time data from community voices helps us to advocate better—and care better.”
In addition to improving service experience for community members and our employees, United Way also believes the additional data these tools provide will be beneficial to mobilize funding, target interventions and strengthen outcomes as we aim to improve health, enhance youth opportunity, foster financial security and create community resiliency so that all have the opportunity to thrive.