About this site
Why it exists
When rent is due, the power is getting cut, or the fridge is empty, the internet gets cruel: old pages for programs that ended, forms that assume you have a printer, and twelve tabs when you needed one phone number.
KC Help Now is the page I wished existed: what to do tonight, in plain words, for both sides of the state line.
Who makes it
One person in Kansas City — not an agency, not a company, not a nonprofit asking for your email. I build it with help from AI tools for drafting and research, and then I check the facts against official sources myself. Nothing goes on this site without human eyes on it.
How the checking works
- Every resource carries a date stamp showing when it was last checked. A stale number is treated as a bug.
- Phone verification is in progress: I'm calling every number on the site and asking the programs directly. Stamps upgrade to "Verified by phone" as I go.
- Seasonal programs flip themselves. Banners for things like Missouri's summer cooling help or Kansas LIEAP are date-gated, so the site can't claim a closed program is open.
- Dead programs get named. If a program you found on Google is out of money or ended, we say so — showing up to a dead program is worse than knowing.
What we never do
No cookies. No analytics. No accounts. No donation pop-ups. Nothing you do here is recorded, and there is nothing to sell because we collect nothing. The Exit Site button is honest too: it opens a weather page and replaces this one, but it does not erase your browsing history — if someone monitors your device, use a library computer or a friend's phone.
How you can help
- Wrong number? Program out of money? Tell us — fixes usually ship the same day.
- Work at a KC community org? We're building translations of these pages with native-speaker review, starting with Spanish. If your organization can review a translation — or wants printed one-pagers for your corkboard — email us.
- Know someone having a hard month? Send them here. That's the whole point.