Lean Lab leaders dissect recent politics spurring U.S. education engagement

March 17, 2017  |  Startland News Staff

Lean Lab co-founder Katie Boody

Editor’s note: In partnership with the Wide Ruled podcast hosted by Brainroot Light and Sound, Startland News hopes to offer its audience more avenues to learn about innovators in Kansas City. Opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone.


Wide Ruled is a podcast on equality in education. Each episode showcases a struggle or triumph in working toward a better education system. In this episode, host Nathaniel Bozarth talks with Katie Boody and Aditya Voleti of the Lean Lab about the recent appointment of Betsy DeVos as U.S. Secretary of Education, and how it’s caused a spike of interest and activism regarding education. 

Nathaniel Bozarth

Nathaniel Bozarth

The Lean Lab works closely with KC Social Innovation, Village Capital and the City of Kansas City, Mo. The program has supported 16 startups and granted over $100,000 to support ideas that have the potential to disrupt the education system.

Launched in 2013, the Kansas City-based education tech incubator engaged over 900 individuals in conversation on education innovation in 2016. In addition, last year marked the organization’s first step to go international, attracting entrepreneurs that hail from 28 different cities and three countries.

Listen to what Boody and Voleti recommend on what you can do to engage with education in your neighborhood.


Nathaniel Bozarth is a regional Emmy-award winning producer with Brainroot Light and Sound. Over the past three years he’s teamed up with Christopher Cook to create engaging documentary content on how race and immigration impact opportunity in America. Wide Ruled is Brainroot’s newest production on this trajectory. @bo_nathaniel

startland-tip-jar

TIP JAR

Did you enjoy this post? Show your support by becoming a member or buying us a coffee.

Tagged , , , ,
Featured Business
    Featured Founder

      2017 Startups to Watch

        stats here

        Related Posts on Startland News

        Video: Sprint Accelerator firms deliver elevator pitches

        By Tommy Felts | March 24, 2016

        Startland News, along with the Kansas City community, was able to mix and mingle with the current cohort of startups at the Kansas City-based Sprint Accelerator. In a Wednesday night event at the accelerator — located in the Crossroads Arts District — ten startup founders also quickly pitched their tech firms’ missions. The accelerator program, led…

        smart city summit

        Inaugural smart city summit eyes the future of public safety

        By Tommy Felts | March 24, 2016

        How can technology improve the safety of a city? That subject and more will be discussed during the upcoming Smart City Tech Summit, which will host dozens of government officials and public safety professionals from around the U.S. The summit — set to take place March 29 through March 31 — will focus on the…

        Kansas’ angel tax credits sprint to legal finish line

        By Tommy Felts | March 22, 2016

        The Kansas House of Representatives nearly unanimously agreed that the state’s Angel Investor Tax Credits program must continue to boost early-stage businesses. The House voted 122 to 3 in favor of a measure that will extend the life of the $6 million program until 2021. Angel investor tax credits, which are set to expire in 2016,…

        KCWiT Django Girls

        KCWiT diversifying Kansas City’s tech workforce with new program

        By Tommy Felts | March 22, 2016

        A Kansas City organization is working to update your mental picture that software programmers are guys hunched over a keyboard in a dark room speedily typing code. The change? Replace the man in the picture with a woman. Well, and the dark room — that’s not the most healthy environment for any programmer. With the…