Kansas City discusses neighborhood divisions, solutions with Nuns on the Bus

As the Nuns on the Bus tour prepared to move from Missouri to Kansas, more than 200 residents from both states gathered Friday night at Community Christian Church in Kansas City, Missouri, for a town hall meeting moderated by Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK.

"Unlike what the politicians usually do, this [town hall] is about all of us doing some work together to create the common good," Campbell said before inviting attendees to meet the people around them and to exchange views on the challenges and divisions in Kansas City.

After 10 minutes of group discussion, residents were invited to one of two microphones in the church sanctuary to share what was discussed. The consensus was that the Kansas City metropolitan area -- an area that spans two states, nine counties and is bifurcated by the Missouri River -- is an urban sphere almost defined by its divisions.