Government

Jim Malle, Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, LaunchKC

LaunchKC pivoting from annual grants contest to supporting industry verticals, accelerators

By Tommy Felts / December 14, 2018

LaunchKC is expected to focus on specific business verticals in 2019 — an effort to bring companies to Kansas City that can fill industry gaps, said Jim Malle. A revamped version of the annual grants competition eventually would grow those verticals into individual accelerator programs, said Malle, business development officer at the Economic Development Corporation…

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Daniel Fogarty, LaunchCode

LaunchCode leader: Your city never stood a chance of landing Amazon’s HQ2

By Tommy Felts / November 27, 2018

[Editor’s note: This guest column first appeared on the Silicon Prairie News tech and entrepreneurship blog. It is republished here with permission from the author, St. Louis-based Daniel Fogarty, vice president of growth at LaunchCode, which operates its workforce development program in Kansas City.] After months of waiting, it’s finally confirmed Amazon will split its…

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Kevin McGinnis, Keystone Community Corporation, innovation district

Innovation district will look to black community for insight, McGinnis tells GEW crowd

By Tommy Felts / November 13, 2018

Developing an innovation district takes a village, Kevin McGinnis told a packed room of Global Entrepreneurship Week attendees — a cross-section of Kansas Citians eager to learn more about how his proposed Keystone innovation district could re-shape diversity and inclusion efforts in the startup space. “I’m not going to suggest that I’m bringing a bunch…

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KCFD: Only 19 accidents in four months involving electric scooters popular in Crossroads, downtown

By Tommy Felts / November 6, 2018

The arrival of trendy Bird and Lime electric scooters hasn’t tripped panic alarms for the emergency medical services in Kansas City, according to a new report from the city. A manual review of nearly 100,000 EMS records logged between July and Oct. 31 shows only 19 accidents involving the scooters, the Kansas City Fire Department…

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KCSourceLink All-Star Voting Winners

New five-year government grant, matching funds will help KCSourceLink fill gaps, build inclusivity

By Tommy Felts / November 1, 2018

The payoff from a new five-year grant to KCSourceLink will most immediately be seen in a refreshed website with a more streamlined user experience for doers, makers, creators and entrepreneurs searching for help in taking the next — or first — step in building a business. “Our goal is to strengthen the fundamental building blocks of a…

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