Black & Veatch investing $50K in CAPS network, hoping to unite corporate champions amid lagging labor market
June 7, 2022 | Startland News Staff
One of the earliest supporters of the Center for the Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS) is stepping up again to set the tone for foundational corporate backing as the Johnson County-spun experiential learning effort scales across North America.
CAPS announced Monday a $50,000 investment from Black & Veatch to further long-term employment solutions for the engineering and construction industry. With the investment, Black & Veatch joins the STEM-focused CAPS Network Council of Champions as its inaugural CAPS Network Engineering Champion.
“Starting in 2009 when the CAPS model was in its infancy and operating in one location, Black & Veatch was one of its first corporate partners,” said Corey Mohn, the president and executive director of the CAPS Network. “The company’s leadership and employees have proven over and again their commitment to career-connected education. This partnership will ignite powerful connections between professional engineers and students who will be their future colleagues.”
Supporting CAPS’ work is expected to help Black & Veatch — a Kansas City-based global engineering, procurement, consulting and construction company with revenues of more than $3.3 billion in 2021 — address key industry challenges, as well as opportunities created by globalization and evolving technology, Mohn said, specifically noting job openings left unfilled and critical skills lacking in the labor market.
Click here to read more about Black & Veatch’s support for the Ignition Lab at Operation Breakthrough.
The CAPS Network is a 501c3 nonprofit organization focused on paving the education-to-employment path through profession-based learning. Programs that affiliate with the CAPS Network share best practices and connections with professional partners, post-secondary institutions, teachers and students. CAPS Network membership currently includes 81 affiliate programs across 21 states and three countries.
Click here to learn more about the CAPS Network.
The CAPS Council of Champions is a select group of industry advocates and community-driven national and global organizations. As a CAPS Network Engineering Champion, Black & Veatch is committing to partnership in the work of expanding profession-based learning to deliver experience to as many students as possible, regardless of their backgrounds or locations.
The Council of Champions’ goal is to unite meaningful brands across industry sectors to make a significant impact on behalf of students, teachers and community partners.
“For more than a decade, CAPS has demonstrated the inherent value of partnering business professionals with kids in helping those students achieve their dreams,” said Patty Corcoran, chief human resources officer at Black & Veatch. “This latest investment in CAPS strengthens that commitment to tomorrow’s young professionals.”
Black & Veatch’s participation in the CAPS Council of Champions includes opportunities for the company’s professionals to work with engineering instructors from across the CAPS Network to influence and support work with students, mentoring and client-connected project work directly with CAPS Network students, and providing guidance, advice and support to the work and vision of the CAPS Network.
Clint Robinson, a Black & Veatch associate vice president for government affairs who served on the Blue Valley (Kansas) School District board when that system became the first to adopt CAPS in 2009, was instrumental in shaping the company’s involvement, Mohn noted.
Click here to read about Black & Veatch’s involvement in the first class of corporate leaders who signed KC Rising’s CEO-to-CEO Challenge.
2022 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Cafe Cà Phê returns to the West Bottoms with second location for KC’s popular Vietnamese coffee shop
A Cafe Cà Phê satellite location inside 12th Street Post in the West Bottoms is the perfect step for continuing the mission of Kansas City’s only Vietnamese coffee shop, shared founder Jackie Nguyen. Just shy of the one year anniversary of its Columbus Park space, Cafe Cà Phê celebrated the grand opening of its new…
She wanted to bring her favorite foodie magazine to KC; her mother’s sudden death put this publisher’s plans on the back burner
Lauren Cook’s passion for Edible Communities magazine drove her appetite to revive it in Kansas City, she shared, but an unexpected life change has her hoping to hand the publisher’s apron to someone else. Cook purchased the license to publish the city-specific food magazine — each independently run by publishers in metros across the country…
Digital Sandbox alum earns new round of funding — this time for sports tech; Meet the latest batch of just-funded startups
From making the college admissions process easier for students to summarizing books and podcasts using artificial intelligence, the latest startups to join Digital Sandbox KC are a great example of the creativity of this region’s entrepreneurs, said Jill Meyer. The four newly selected companies are expected to receive up to $20,000 in project funding and…
Her red sauce is dynamite but Ragazza’s owner gives the chef title to her Italian heritage
Family is baked into the core of Laura Norris’ restaurants, she shared, from the Italian recipes served at Ragazza in Westport to the brother-sister duo running the new Enzo Wine Bar and Bistro together in the River Market. She opened Ragazza, which now sits at the corner of 43rd and Main streets, in 2013 and…