Goodwill opening first-of-its-kind KC adult high school near Oracle Cerner Innovation Campus

A new “adult high school” offering free, onsite childcare to Missourians 21 and older is planned in Kansas City. Organizers are eyeing a fall 2025 opening and a first-year enrollment of 250 students.

The project — dubbed The Excel Center — follows a model operated across the country in other communities for the past 10 years, according to Goodwill Of Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas, which this week announced the Kansas City site near the intersection of Bannister Road and I-435.

“This Excel Center will be a beacon of hope and opportunity for many Kansas Citians,” said Mike Sinnett, president and CEO for Goodwill, emphasizing the project’s first-of-its-kind nature in the community. “Our Excel Center will deliver an accredited, tuition-free high school education for eligible Missouri residents who do not already have a high school diploma.”

The Kansas City Missouri City Council recently formally approved the development plan for the Excel Center.

“When Kansas Citians have the tools they need to succeed, our entire community benefits,” said Quinton Lucas, mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, calling the project a critical tool to help Kansas Citians find their unique paths in the workforce of tomorrow.

“The Excel Center will help change the trajectory of the more than 60,000 Kansas City-area adults without a high school diploma, gain the skills they need for a high-paying career,” he continued. “We’re proud of our continued partnership with Goodwill and thankful for their years of positive impact and investment in Kansas City.”

Click here for updates to the Excel Center project, including enrollment and hiring information.

“We plan to meet all of our students where they are,” said Anita Davis, Excel Center Kansas City. “The first thing we thought about was access to public transportation, so that any adult across the region can get there. So the school will be located right by a bus stop.”

In addition to on-site child care, individuals enrolled in the Excel Center will also have access to life coaches trained to assist students in finding solutions to challenges they may face along the way, including transportation barriers, learning disabilities, and food and housing insecurity.

The vision for the Excel Center is to open doors for continued education, good paying jobs and industry certifications through local business partners and post-secondary institutions, Sinnett said.

“The transformative power of a high school diploma is undeniable,” he continued. “The median weekly earnings for a person without a high school diploma is less than 80 percent of what a person with a high school diploma earns, and less than 72 percent of what a person with some college or an associate degree earns. It’s our hope that the Excel Center will be the first stop on our students’ journey to success.”

Data cited by Goodwill shows that the Excel Center model provides such immediate and long-term economic mobility for participants as:

• $9,330 average annual increase in initial earned income;
• 22 percent more likely to be employed than their peers;
• 20 percent more likely to be enrolled in college or certificate programs; and
• 35 percent increase in earned income compared to peers after four years.

Forty seven other Goodwill Excel Centers have been successfully operating since the first one opened 10 years ago, including six in Missouri.

The local Excel Center will employ qualified special education instructors to offer individualized assistance for people with disabilities, English language learners, and learners with a range of previous education.

All students will be encouraged to earn industry recognized certifications and/or dual college credits along with their diploma. As an institution offering high school diplomas, the Excel Center will be held to all the same state and federal standards as a traditional high school.