Community Impact Spotlights

Community Vitality 

We invest in the communities in which we live and work through opportunities that retain and attract businesses that stimulate local economies, encourage workforce readiness for all ages, backgrounds and provide basic needs that help people contribute to society. 

This Fall, 115 Evergy employees participated in the annual Nancy Perry Day of Caring hosted by United Way of Greater Topeka alongside nearly 800 other community volunteers. Topeka Zoo, Boy Scouts of America and Forrest Park’ Halloween Haunted Woods benefited from Evergy employees extra hands to clean up outdoor spaces, repair and set up holiday lighting exhibits, trail maintenance at Skyline Park in Shawnee County, landscaping with the Topeka Housing Authority; organizing and sorting of clothing, hygiene products and food for the Topeka Public Schools as well as projects at the Topeka Civic Theatre. Evergy and the United Way organizations throughout the service territory move our communities forward through collaboration and alignment of our focus and investments strategy.

Environmental leadership

We're committed to a sustainable energy future with less environmental impact through sustainable business practices, land and resource conservation, education and stewardship.

Evergy installs sustainably-built Little Free Libraries
As community organizations work on unpacking complex influences on a child’s readiness for kindergarten, one truth remains: access to books is fundamental to reading success.  Family engagement is also a key in improving childhood literacy rates. The Wichita Public Library Foundation is focused on providing books and resources in nontraditional ways to the underserved neighborhoods in Wichita through Little Free Libraries (LFL). The 26 LFL, one for each letter of the alphabet, will offer a variety of books for children and families to incorporate literacy in their lives. There will be education resources and information that increases awareness of the “Library of Things” like free use of Wi-Fi hotspots and Chromebooks for members to use in their home. Evergy and the WPLF partnered to install the small libraries with recycled and reused power poles and using solar energy to power the auditory system that pronounces letters and numbers when the door of the library is opened, is solar powered.

“Barriers like transportation, busy family schedules and adult illiteracy often cause library visits to curtail. This pilot project will allow for an extension of our branches to make reading and resources more accessible to children and families.” Kristi Oberg, Wichita Public Library Foundation Executive Director