Lean Lab leaders dissect recent politics spurring U.S. education engagement
March 17, 2017 | Startland News Staff
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.
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
Featured Business

2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Sober, safe travels: The only thing off the menu for these luxury bookings is alcohol
A Kansas City woman’s travel business is taking flight with plans to offer budding adventurers a world of rejuvenating vacationing, luxury, and wellness — all with an alcohol-free itinerary. “I’m blending my two passions together: sobriety and travel,” said Michelle Plante. “I wanted to create a space for women to get together, connect, and have…
Recipe for empathy: These students prepared hundreds of protein-packed, free meals for their food-insecure peers
High school students in the Kansas City area are doing their part to stamp out food insecurity one recipe at a time, Tamara Weber shared. Kids Feeding Kids — a sister program of Pete’s Garden, both founded by Weber — partners with high school FACS and CTE culinary classes to teach students about critical topics…
PopBookings rallies as KC startup looks for its own key hires: ‘We’re back in a big, big way’
After dialing back its event staffing platform’s operations during the pandemic, Kansas City-grown PopBookings is back online in the Midwest — ramping up hiring as it works toward a Series A funding round by year’s end. “Kansas City has a real nurturing feel to it. And this community is why I believe we’ll have our…
$11M renovation in the works for historic hub of Black entrepreneurship; project ties into 18th Street pedestrian mall plans
Editor’s note: The following story was originally published by AltCap, an ally to underestimated entrepreneurs that offers financing to businesses and communities that traditional lenders do not serve. For more than one hundred years, the Lincoln Building has served as a cornerstone of commerce and community in the 18th and Vine district. The historic district —…

