Google’s billion-dollar announcement comes with $100K for NKC schools; Here’s how they’ll use it
March 20, 2024 | Taylor Wilmore
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
RELATED: Google to build $1B data center in Kansas City; aiming for 24/7 carbon-free energy use
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.”
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.”
Taylor Wilmore
Taylor Wilmore, hailing from Lee’s Summit, is a dedicated reporter and a recent graduate of the University of Missouri, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Taylor channels her deep-seated passion for writing and storytelling to create compelling narratives that shed light on the diverse residents of Kansas City.
Prior to her role at Startland News, Taylor made valuable contributions as a reporter for the Columbia Missourian newspaper, where she covered a wide range of community news and higher education stories.
2024 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Kansas City seeks leaders for Smart City board
The City of Kansas City, Mo., is now seeking nominations to lead the city’s smart city efforts. City leaders hope to attract citizens with experience in smart city technologies to help advise the City of Fountain’s coming Cisco Smart City project, in addition to its other smart city efforts. The newly authorized “Smart City Advisory…
RECAP: 1 Million Cups focuses on time with Mixtape, Flowh
There was a theme at today’s 1 Million Cups KC, and it was time. Two startups presented their businesses, both at different stages, and both in different industries, but both dealing with time — how we remember it and how we manage it. Mixtape founder Joel Johnson was first to present his firm, which created…
Lean Lab eyes $25K in national pitch contest
The Lean Lab, a Kansas City-based education innovation incubator, is hoping to strike gold in a national pitch competition in California. The organization on Wednesday will be pitching its model in the Teach For America Social Innovation Awards, an annual competition in which the Lean Lab hopes to snag a $25,000 prize. Lean Lab is the…
6 ways to be a startup community hero (for non-entrepreneurs)
Melissa Roberts, marketing director of the Enterprise Center of Johnson County, shares how those interested in helping the startup community can effectively engage entrepreneurs. In my work at an entrepreneurial service non-profit in Kansas City, I get to meet many passionate, community-minded people each day. Often, those people have no connection to our startup community, other than…