KCMO adds $350K for entrepreneurs to proposed city budget after advocates’ last-minute push
March 21, 2019 | Austin Barnes
Kansas City entrepreneur advocates gained more momentum Thursday in their bid to receive greater civic support for startups and small businesses.
“Entrepreneurs and small businesses are the driver of the Kansas City economy,” KCMO councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Scott Wagner told Startland Thursday afternoon, following the approval of the city’s $1.73 billion budget.
An additional $350,000 has been allocated to the Urban Business Growth initiative and for general entrepreneurial support.
“This item [is a result of advocacy from] the entrepreneurship community,” added Scott Huizenga, city budget officer, during Thursday’s city council meeting. “They came out in force at our public hearings.”
Kansas City city hall
More than 50 entrepreneurs and startup founders gathered for a public budget hearing earlier this month, calling on the council to better support entrepreneurial endeavors, given the economic impact they bring to the city, Eze Redwood, Rise Fast founder and startup community organizer, said at the time.
Click here to read more about Redwood’s comments to council members.
“I’m pleased that we have been able to place more money in the city’s budget to build capacity and the ecosystem to support [startup] development,” Wagner said Thursday.
Small business owners, startup founders, and advocates of the entrepreneurial ecosystem once again gathered Thursday in support of the amendment to the proposed budget –– which was ultimately approved with no hesitation from council members during the afternoons public meeting.
Now approved, the funds will be combined with $200,000 already set aside for entrepreneurial support, Huizenga said.
Funds could be used to support or inject resources, such as support or training opportunities, into the startup and small business space –– as deemed appropriate by the assistant city manager.
“This is one of the top priorities that came out of our public hearings this year,” Huizenga added.
The KCMO budget year runs May 1 through April 30.
Click here to view details of the budget.
2019 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Hyperloop to AP: Kansas City-St. Louis route among top 5 as finalists narrowed
Kansas City’s hopes to land a high-speed commuter route to St. Louis continue to shoot forward, a Hyperloop official confirmed Thursday. Two weeks after the State of Missouri entered into a public-private partnership with Hyperloop to study the feasibility of a 23-minute supersonic track between the two cities, the Associated Press reports Missouri is a…
After shootings, ‘It’s most important to keep the public safe,’ Smart City leaders say
Citizens expect public safety from their city government to encompass such basics as sidewalks and water, Bob Bennett said. And for that reason, improving public safety must be a top concern for smart city projects around the nation, the chief innovation officer at the City of Kansas City, Missouri, added. “We have to provide the…
$1.6M grant will create incubator for low-income, minority entrepreneurs
A large federal grant will help reanimate an older industrial building in Kansas City to serve as a small business incubator. The U.S. Economic Development Administration recently awarded a $1.6 million grant to the Hispanic Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, Missouri. The Kansas City organization said that the grant should create about 90 new…
Kauffman report: KC ranks 28 out of 40 in entrepreneurial growth
Fewer Kansas City companies are growing to become medium- or large-sized firms, according to a report released Thursday by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. It’s a common story across the U.S., as the nation rebounds from the slump of the Great Recession, the report says. The 2017 Kauffman Index of Growth Entrepreneurship report suggests the…