![Storyteller: Zach Perez, Community Engagement Producer](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/1b6872c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/400x533+0+0/resize/150x200!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F06%2Fcd%2F6596b0024fd4948e44f658e2b9e0%2Fzach-perez.jpg)
Zach Perez
Community Engagement ProducerAs KCUR’s Community Engagement Producer, I help welcome our audiences into the newsroom, and bring our journalism out into the communities we serve. Many people feel overlooked or misperceived by the media, and KCUR needs to do everything we can to cover and empower the diverse communities that make up the Kansas City metro — especially the ones who don’t know us in the first place. My work takes the form of reporting stories, holding community events, and bringing what I’ve learned back to Up To Date and the rest of KCUR.
What should KCUR be talking about? Who should we be talking to? Let me know. You can email me at zjperez@kcur.org or message me on Twitter at zach_pepez.
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Hundreds of candidates will appear on dozens of different ballots across the Kansas City metro during the August primary. They are precinct or county committee members, and they make up the backbone of their chosen party’s ability to build grassroots support and to set policy priorities.
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A young Waldo resident says he won’t vote for either presidential candidate this fall because he thinks they're too old. He believes the increasing age of candidates shows America’s political system does not serve young people. A growing number of voters under 30 agree with him.
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Debido a que KCUR cubre las elecciones del 2024 en Missouri y Kansas, queremos que los residentes y los votantes ayuden a dar su opinión sobre nuestra cobertura. ¿Qué necesita saber sobre el proceso de votación, sus carreras locales, o lo que está viendo en las noticias?
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As KCUR covers the 2024 elections in Missouri and Kansas, we want residents and voters to help shape our coverage. What do you need to know about the voting process, your local races, or what you're seeing in the news?
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The first ever Black Comedy Festival KC will take place from April 25-28, mainly in Kansas City’s historic 18th & Vine district. Festival organizers say it’s the first festival to highlight black comics in the region, as well as the first to feature several different forms of comedy.
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The recent ransomware attack which closed the Jackson County Assessment, Collection and Recorder of Deeds offices is just the latest in a series of cyberattacks against government offices in the Kansas City metro over the past few years. Federal advisors say attacks against municipalities are growing in number, often because they’re the easiest targets.
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Durante varios meses de sesiones de escucha y entrevistas en los barrios más antiguos de la zona del West Side de Kansas City, Missouri, y de las nuevas comunidades en el condado de Johnson, Kansas, KCUR escuchó historias de cómo los latinos están trayendo culturas distintas a la vez que comparten preocupaciones comunes.
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The April 8 solar eclipse sweeping across the U.S. hit 89% coverage at its peak in Kansas City, just before 2 p.m. Cities along the path of totality saw a boom in tourism from out-of-towners trying to catch the last North American solar eclipse until 2044, but residents around the metro found ways to watch closer to home, too.
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The Overland Park nonprofit Gift of Life works to educate the public about living organ donation and support donors and recipients through the transplant process.
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Over several months of listening sessions and interviews in the oldest neighborhoods on the West Side of Kansas City, Missouri, to newer communities in Johnson County, Kansas, KCUR heard stories of how Latinos are bringing distinct cultures while sharing common concerns.