Today we’d like to introduce you to Doug Langner.
Doug, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Born and raised in Kansas City, I was always enamored by city life. Once I got out of college, I felt the vibrancy of Kansas City was lacking, so I left, of what it thought would be for good, and settled in Chicago. When I came back to Kansas City, boy, how things changed…for the better!
After college, I worked in the corporate world for three years, thought there must be more, and I wanted to make an impact. So I became a Catholic priest, I served in Kansas City and St. Joseph, and eventually met my wife. In my tradition, you can’t be a priest and be married.
That being said, those years as a priest were great, where I was able to lead a community, but also advocate for those in our community who were on the margins.
Even after leaving the priesthood, that has been my “calling” to advocate for those who are a vital part of our community, but don’t always have a seat at the table.
For the past, almost four years, I have been the Executive Director of Hope Faith Homeless Assistance Campus, a low-barrier shelter that brings in people who are in the most need.
Nestled between downtown and the Northeast, in the Paseo West Neighborhood, I have been able to bring a renewed sense of purpose for those we serve, as well as be involved in community-wide solutions to bring people experiencing homelessness to new opportunities, focusing on Care, Rest, and Work for them.
Not only do I work downtown, but I also live a nine-minute walk door to door from Hope Faith’s Homeless Campus. I love our community and seeing the change for the better each year for the past 10 years. It is exciting and humbling to have conversations with those whom I have met, but also those neighbors who are battling for belonging in their stage of homelessness.
I am proud to do small steps of being a bridge builder so that we have a truly diverse community in all aspects of the word, and that we build a community that has a place and voice for all, no matter their situation.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Our city is, per capita, the worst in housing the chronically homeless in the United States. When I became Executive Director of this Homeless Assistance Campus, that was a sobering statistic to absorb. So clearly, what we have been doing in our community isn’t working.
Instead of focusing on the difficulties, we have been focusing on what we can do and solutions to what I believe is one of our more easily solvable issues in our city.
The best thing I have been able to work with is our jobs part of literally putting people back to work, and our team helping them find stable housing and work on a more permanent basis, while seeing our downtown community be cleaner with our Hope Faith Clean Up KC program.
We have also been helping with finding solutions to shelter for those who need it while looking for permanent housing.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Having been in the corporate world a the beginning of my career to spending the next phases bringing change to people’s lives has been a great pleasure.
Often, people in the social service field don’t live in the communities they serve. That can lead to a disconnect, and in communities all around, when they see and experience those who are homeless, they have a lot of questions.
Reframing this issue as a neighborhood issue is one piece of solving this. Often, people come from far away from the urban core to “help”, as well-meaning as it is, this help can miss the mark and not focus on the real question: how do we get this person off the street?
It has been a pleasure to find solutions for this and be an educator for those who want to help in the best ways they can.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was always raised with a bit of a sense of curiosity and adventure, which is why some of my passions have been cities, other cultures, as well as my own German heritage, as well as travel both near and far.
Sports have always been a passion of mine to see people come together around a common cause.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hopefaith.org
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-langner-0b751b21/
