Google’s billion-dollar announcement comes with $100K for NKC schools; Here’s how they’ll use it

A $1 billion Google data center will begin impacting Kansas City before the tech giant officially opens its new facility in 2025, company and local officials said Wednesday, announcing a $100,000 investment to support North Kansas City schools.

“This partnership is more than just about technology, It’s about empowerment,” said Dr. Rochel Daniels, school district superintendent at North Kansas City, Wednesday morning during an announcement event with Google. “We want our more than 21,500 students to feel emboldened towards excellence, so thank you for putting your hand in ours.”

Government, community, and economic development leaders join Google in celebrating the announcement of Google’s billion-dollar data center in Kansas City; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

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The $100,000 contribution will go to North Kansas City School District’s alternative education STEAM center, which teaches science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. 

“We’re going to be very good for schools,” said Monique Picou, global vice president of cloud supply chain and operations at Google. “We need to re-skill the population that we have. These are good jobs, everything we do is above the living wage.”

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North Kansas City schools already offer holistic support, real-world learning, resilience services, and comprehensive post-secondary planning for students’ success beyond their walls, officials said.

“We’re going to help make sure that we keep these students and folks interested. I am an electrical engineer by degree, so I have a lot of energy for STEAM and STEM, and want to help support that,” said Picou.

North Kansas City’s STEAM center includes a Google Career Certification Lab, a digital media studio, Innovation Fab lab, Career Exploration Labs, and more for students, giving them the building blocks to be better-prepared in their respective industries.

“The opportunity to earn a Google certification for their career in particular, will provide our students a way to earn industry recognized credentials in very high demand fields,” said Daniels.

Monique Picou, global vice president of cloud supply chain and operations for Google, announces the tech giant’s plans for a billion-dollar data center in Kansas City; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

In concert with Google’s planned build at the Hunt Midwest Business Center, it is launching the STAR (Skilled Trades and Readiness) program in Kansas City to encourage students to explore new career paths.

STAR will operate in partnership with Missouri Works Initiative and the Urban League to boost skilled trades entry-level opportunities, with a focus on underrepresented communities.

All STAR pre-employment programs are paid training with networking opportunities, facilitating direct employment on local construction projects.

“Everybody isn’t going to go straight to university and go into the advanced degrees,” said Picou. “That doesn’t mean you can’t have a really good quality of living and make a great impact on this community, so we want to make sure we’re doing that.”