Kansas Beats the Virus
Software to inspire Kansans to lead.
- Mission
- MBL#2E2F6
- Partner
- Kansas Leadership Center
- Industry
- Health & Human Service
- Location
- kansasbeatsthevirus.com
The Vision
The Kansas Leadership Center saw an opportunity to use their network of leaders to inspire Kansans to take action to combat the Coronavirus pandemic. They envisioned a statewide, public health intervention to activate and connect local leadership to combat COVID-19.
“We’re honored that KDHE and Governor Kelly, with the support of the Kansas Legislature, have called on KLC to help mobilize Kansans for the purpose and challenge of a century. We’re charging our statewide network of partners and 12,000 leadership program graduates to lead virtual, non-partisan meetings that generate local support and stimulate concrete action to slow the spread of the virus.“
The primary objective was to inspire Kansans to lend their influence to convene hundreds of virtual meetings.
The challenges:
- Six weeks to execute
- Coordinate schedules for 75 facilitators to lead nearly 1,000 meetings
- Hundreds of conveners need to create meetings and be matched with facilitators
- Thousands of participants need to be able to register and receive Zoom instructions
- Capture unique data from each meeting for reporting to stakeholders
The Results
The Kansas Leadership Center reached out to Moonbase Labs because they knew that software would be essential to making this project possible. This was the most ambitious project they had attempted in recent memory, and their leadership team understood the power of technology to help them scale.
For Moonbase Labs to be successful, we needed to embed ourselves with their team. We joined daily standups with the KLC team for the duration of the project. As requirements for the platform changed on a daily basis, our team was able to make on-the-fly adjustments in real time. A prototype was deployed within two weeks, which allowed KLC partners to begin convening meetings and inviting facilitators. Over the next few weeks, we continued shipping major features every couple days as they were requested.
The Takeaway
This initiative was an incredible example of the spirit of Kansans. In a matter of 6 weeks, over 7000 Kansans attended 851 meetings. Over $850,000 in micro grants were distributed to launch grassroots efforts to combat the virus.
Ed O’Malley described the software as “beyond what we imagined” and credited the partnership with Moonbase Labs for much of the project’s success. "Moonbase Labs was exactly the partner we needed for this project. They jumped in head first and started solving problems."
Julia Fabris McBride, Vice President of KLC, said: “Moonbase Labs was calm and purposeful in a project that was constantly changing. They did outstanding work.”
The speed and scale of this effort were daunting, but the strong communication and effortless partnership between Moonbase Labs and the Kansas Leadership Center made this project an incredible success.