KC Social Innovation Center kicks off with $100K
June 23, 2016 | Kat Hungerford
Education in Kansas City is receiving an innovative boost.
Village Capital, a global entrepreneurial development organization, recently announced that Kansas City will be one of its pioneer “VilCap communities.”
The KC Social Innovation Center, or KCSIC, will manage Kansas City’s VilCap community. The organization — launched by Think Big Partners in May — focuses on education as a means to fuel economic development, said Kari Keefe, executive director of the KC Social Innovation Center.
The program opened its doors to 16 U.S. cities, inviting entrepreneurs in each community to tackle hot-button issues. Each city has an assigned focus. Kansas City will be the only education-focused community, while other metros will work on health, water and energy, food and agriculture, financial technology and minority entrepreneurship.
“We provide a central hub for social innovation to amplify and open the community of innovation to initiate and establish new methods in economic development, tech, education and learning in digital cities,” Keefe said. “We’re not only creating spaces where change happens, but leveraging the co-work and co-design models to produce a network of networks with innovative actors and ideas that work together for the public good.”
Growing education innovation efforts sets the stage for the area becoming a national innovation leader, Keefe added.
“Kansas City’s education sector is rapidly evolving,” she said. “It is progressive and innovative, and VilCap has recognized our capacity to lead the nation as a catalyst for education innovation and ed entrepreneurship.”
To become a VilCap community, KCSIC secured $50,000 from the City of Kansas City, Mo., and partnered with The Lean Lab to match an additional $50,000. The Lean Lab will also provide curriculum and other support for VilCap efforts.
“This is exciting for Kansas City, and VilCap Communities is just the beginning,” Keefe said. “With the financial boost from the City of Kansas City, Missouri, now we can continue developing superior education innovations and entrepreneurs throughout the region.”
The non-profit hopes to provide much-needed structure to fully develop education efforts for the region, said Keefe.
“My hope is that KCSIC provides the infrastructure and network needed to actualize the advancement of education innovations, learning and workforce development in digital cities,” she said.
2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
PrairieFood grows power of its micro-carbon ag solution with a pipeline of human connection
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. LAWRENCE — Entrepreneurship is all about networking, Robert Herrington said. “You never know where a pivot or direction is going to come from,” said Herrington, an early member of the Pipeline…
C2FO marks $300B in funding for businesses as entrepreneurs navigate ongoing credit crunch
Rapid marketplace expansion in the first half of 2023 helped push Leawood-based C2FO — the world’s on-demand working capital platform — past the $300-billion mark in total funding to its customers. This record funding amount reflects invoices paid an average of 31 days early via C2FO’s platform. C2FO gets vital, low-cost capital into customers’ hands…
Froyo with a ’tini twist: Entrepreneur collaboration serves alcoholic frozen yogurt in KC
Kansas City is excited by the new flavor combinations popping up as two entrepreneurs give customers a taste of collaboration, said Isaac Collins, teasing a line of alcoholic frozen yogurt that’s already hitting cups in the metro. Through a partnership with KC-based Brain Freeze Mobile Daiquiri, Collins’ Yogurtini locations have begun a series of happy…
How Meshuggah Bagels ‘built a bakery without a recipe’ — now expanding to Liberty, Lawrence
Pete Linde tested 72 bagel recipes before hitting perfection with number 73, said Janna Linde. She knows because she tried every single test bagel. “Pete worked on that recipe for about a year. He had a notebook and took notes on every little tweak and modification he made. I’d see the big hand mixer come…