VCONIC, Frontline Group, and United Way 2-1-1: Empathy at Scale with vCon, Podcast

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18d ago

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“You can have the best program in the world, but if nobody knows about it, it won’t make a difference,” says Todd Jordan, who leads United Way of Greater Kansas City’s 2-1-1. “That’s why we run a 24/7/365 contact center—to guide people to real help with a kind, empathetic voice.” In this special Technology Reseller News podcast, Publisher Doug Green brings together Todd Jordan (United Way 2-1-1, Kansas City), Jill Blankenship (CEO, Frontline Group), and Thomas McCarthy-Howe (CTO, VCONIC) to explore Empathy at Scale: how vCon (styled vCon) data and AI—implemented with strict privacy and security—are transforming community helplines and complex, multi-agency referrals. The Scale - and the Strain United Way’s 2-1-1 covers 23 counties and roughly 2.5 million people across the Greater Kansas City region. Demand has surged since the pandemic: 155,000+ calls last year and nearly 500,000 total contacts (calls, web, email, even USPS), with average call times around 7.5 minutes—well over a million minutes of conversations. The mix spans urban, suburban, and rural needs, multiple languages, and highly sensitive situations (from rent and utilities to domestic violence and mental health crises). Protecting privacy is paramount. From Corridor Conversation to Pilot Blankenship describes how a hallway conversation about vCon—a new IETF-developed file format for conversations—sparked a collaboration. Frontline Group packaged the idea inside Frontline Quest, their agent-enablement and professional services program, while VCONIC, a spin-out dedicated to vCon technology, provided the protocol and secure data handling. The trio launched a live pilot with United Way 2-1-1 to transcribe calls, structure insights, and surface actionable “signals” for quality, safety, and service improvement—without compromising caller confidentiality. “vCon is designed to feed AI and protect people,” says Thomas McCarthy-Howe. “Bringing IETF-grade security and openness to conversational data lets us see the dark operational signals—safely—and use them to help people faster.” What Changed for 2-1-1 Quality & Care Signals: Real-time indicators help supervisors coach empathy, spotting where agents can lean in—and where secondary trauma support is needed for frontline staff. Searchable Conversations (Not Just Dispositions): Instead of relying on boxes and notes, leaders can now query full conversations to answer urgent policy questions. Jordan asked the system to compare eviction-prevention resources across Kansas vs. Missouri; the synthesized, data-grounded view matched the team’s lived experience and revealed precise gaps. Multilingual & Multichannel Reality: With 70–80 languages in some school districts, vCon-backed transcription and analysis improve consistency across interpreters and channels—phone, web, email, and more. Why It Matters For a nonprofit with finite resources, the team needed technology that is secure, lean, and humane—helping callers in crisis without forcing agents to split attention between empathy and note-taking. The pilot is doing exactly that: safeguarding sensitive data while unlocking insights that mobilize funding, target interventions, and strengthen outcomes. “We’re at the tip of something transformative,” Jordan says. “Real-time data from our community voices helps us advocate better—and care better.” About the participants: United Way of Greater Kansas City 2-1-1 serves 23 counties and ~2.5M people, fielding 155k+ calls annually. 2-1-1 is a North American network covering ~99% of the U.S. and much of Canada. Frontline Group is a contact center BPO and professional services firm; its Frontline Quest program integrates vCon to enhance agent experience and operational insight. VCONIC specializes in vCon technology—a conversation file format being developed in the IETF, the internet standards body behind protocols like TLS and OAuth. Learn more: United Way 2-1-1 (Kansas City),

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