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Big 5: Entrepreneurial Brainstorming

As part of the Chamber’s Big 5 initiative, eight public forums are underway to get your views. The Local Show checked in on one of them this week at the Kauffman Foundation.

How can we become America’s most entrepreneurial city? As part of the Chamber’s Big 5 initiative, eight public forums are underway to get your views. We checked in on one of them this week at the Kauffman Foundation.

There are four more sessions just like this one going on in the metro. They are all free, but registration each session is limited to 50 people. For more information and to register, go to kauffman.org/big5conversation. By the way, we will check in with Pete deSilva, the head of UMB Bank who is leading the Chamber’s entrepreneurial Big 5 initiative, to see what they learned once they have them all wrapped up.

The Chamber’s Big 5 initiatives were announced last fall – each designed to create jobs and to raise “Big KC” to the next level. The entrepreneurship initiative is championed by Peter deSilva, chairman and CEO of UMB Bank.

The schedule for next week’s meetings:

Sprint Campus – 6300 building, Overland Park (Park in Lot P)

Monday, Feb. 20 – 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Kauffman Foundation – Conference Center, 4801 Rockhill Road, KCMO

Tuesday, Feb. 21 – 11:15 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.

Cerner – Vision Center, 2850 Rock Creek Parkway, KCMO

Wednesday, Feb. 22 – 11:15 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.

Metropolitan Community College – Mel Aytes Education Center, 500 SW Longview Road, Lee’s Summit

Thursday, Feb. 23 – 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Graphic giving thanks to Big 5 underwriters Burns & McDonnnell, UMB and Swope Community Enterprises

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Big KC: A Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The Charles Wheeler Downtown Airport will the hosting the inaugural Big KC, an innovation and entrepreneurship conference, from March 26-28.

We leave you this week with a reminder that big things are on the way. Specifically to Hangar #9 at the Downtown Airport, where Big KC will bring entrepreneurs aplenty together March 26-28. It’s the successor to Silicon Prairie News’ Big Omaha and Big Des Moines events, and will feature speakers like Dan Hesse from Sprint.

Big Kansas City – Promo Video 2013 from Silicon Prairie News on Vimeo.

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Brain Power: Greg Graves & George Guastello

Greg Graves and George Guastello discuss the Battle of the Brains competition which had schools across the metro competing to design a new Science City exhibit.

Not everyone has been happy with Science City since it opened at Union Station in 1999.

Earlier this summer the engineering firm of Burns and McDonnell gave more than a million dollars to reinvigorate the family friendly science center.

They also launched Battle of the Brains a chance for area students to design a new permanent exhibit for Science City and with it a $50,000 prize for their school. The winner?

Olathe North High School’s winning entry explores how mechanical power is transformed into energy by running in giant hamster wheels to generate electricity. They call it Unplugged.

Burns & McDonnell CEO Greg Graves and Union Station CEO George Guastello discuss the Battle of the Brains competition which had schools across the metro competing to design the new Science City exhibit.

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Building Curiosity: Black & Veatch’s STEM Program

Randy Mason sits down with Black and Veatch’s Shelly Arnett to discuss the company’s mentoring program that gets local students excited about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).

Randy Mason sits down with Black & Veatch’s Staffing Program Manager Shelly Arnett to discuss how this Kansas City-based, global engineering, consulting and construction company’s mentoring program is getting area students excited about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). KCPT has partnered with Black & Veatch to start a tutoring program for fifth-grade students at Santa Fe and Dobbs Elementary in the Hickman Mills School District, hoping to inspire the students to pursue careers in science-related fields.

Randy Mason and Shelly Arnett on the set of The Local Show

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Care Before Cuffs: JOCO Mental Health Co-Responder Program

Learn more about Johnson County’s Mental Health Co-Responder Program which strives to reduce numbers of mentally ill from entering the criminal justice system.

The Local Show rides along with the police in Johnson County as part of an innovative project to reduce the number of mentally ill heading to our area jails. It’s called the Mental Health Co-Responder Program and it was developed though a partnership between the Johnson County Sheriff’s office, Johnson County Mental Health and the Olathe Police Department. What happens if a mental health worker were to accompany police on some of their calls? Would the outcomes be different?

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CityAge: The New American City

Producer Justin Bond eavesdropped on some of the sights and sounds of the two-day CityAge summit The New American City at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

While we were busy with the KCPT membership drive last week, Kansas City Mayor Sly James was busy saving America’s urban cities.

More than a dozen U.S. Mayors rolled into town along with political and thought leaders from around the country. They were convening at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts for the CityAge Summit on The New American City.

Kansas City is only the third place, and the first U.S. city, where CityAge has held a summit. The first two have been in Canada.

The Kansas City event wound up attracting more than 550 people from 259 organizations and 73 cities. Producer Justin Bond eavesdropped on some of the sights and sounds of the two-day convention that included a nod to Kansas City’s musical heritage.

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Energizing Education for At-Risk Kids: MINDDRIVE

Producer Cara Myers provides viewers with a look at local non-profit MINDDRIVE, where at-risk teens are not only building innovative electric cars that have received national and international recognition, but are also being inspired to learn and expand their vision of the future.

At first glance, you might not see much of a connection between the building of electric cars and at-risk, high school-aged kids, but MINDDRIVE, a Kansas City, Missouri-based non-profit, is making one. Producer Cara Myers profiles this local non-profit, where at-risk teens are not only building innovative electric vehicles, but they are also being inspired to learn and expand their vision of the future. When we’re so often told about the problems of young people, here’s a positive story for a change.

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Finding Family for Foster Children: Extreme Recruitment

We share the story of Demaje, a boy who was trapped in the foster care system but was recently reunited with his family thanks to the Midwest Foster Care and Adoption Association's Extreme Recruitment program.

More than half a million children are currently trapped in the foster care system.
Being removed from a home and placed in foster care is a difficult and stressful experience for any child. Many of these children have suffered some form of serious abuse or neglect.

The Midwest Foster Care and Adoption Association based in Independence is going to some extraordinary lengths, including hiring private investigators, to try and locate family members who might be willing to adopt a hard to place child who might otherwise languish for years in the foster care system.

They call their program “Extreme Recruitment” and last year they found homes for 22 foster children, including a home for 10-year-old Demaje, whose mother abandoned him in Kansas City. In January, Demaje’s uncle was awarded temporary custody by Jackson County Family Court. Demaje has returned to his family in California.

The Midwest Foster Care and Adoption Association says they hope to find homes for forty children this year as part of their extreme recruitment program.

That segment was produced by Bryan Shepard at LINC, a KCPT partner organization which works to improve the lives of children and families in the Kansas City region.

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Fostering Entrepreneurial Spirit: Blue Valley School District’s CAPS Program

In the second part of our profile of the Blue Valley School District's CAPS program, we look at how the program not only teaches them skills but also provides entrepreneurial guidance.

Recently on the Local Show, we asked where the Garmins and the Cerners of the future would come from? We took you inside the Blue Valley School District’s 12 million dollar CAPS (Center for Advanced Professional Studies) building where the next generation of engineers and life science researchers are getting a head start while still in high school.

Believe it or not, students in the CAPS program have also created dozens of businesses and products…everything from rechargeable cell phones to a prosthetic knee brace. When the Chamber of Commerce talks about making Kansas City America’s most entrepreneurial city, is this where the next generation will come from?

Two students presenting a product while five adult mentors look on.

Lead funding of KCPT’S reporting of education issues is funded in part by a generous grant from the Kauffman Foundation and additional civic funders.

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Future Innovators of America: Blue Valley School District’s CAPS Program

Rich Miller takes us inside Blue Valley School Districts innovative CAPS program in part one of this two part feature.

Where will the next Garmin and Cerner of the world come from?

Growing entrepreneurs starts young. In the Blue Valley School District, it is starting in an innovative $12.5 million building where the next generation of entrepreneurs, engineers and life science researchers are getting a head start while still in high school.

Exterior of CAPS building

It’s called the Center for Advanced Professional Studies or CAPS. While many high school biology students are learning about DNA from textbooks, there are teens here actually extracting it from the saliva glands of fruit fly larva.

More than 500 Blue Valley juniors and seniors are getting this opportunity in a program that’s fast getting national attention Producer Rich Miller takes us inside in the first of two parts about this program.

Students watching a remote control helicopter device in action

Believe it or not students in the CAPS program have also created dozens of businesses and products…everything from rechargeable cell phones to a prosthetic knee brace.

Some of these teenagers even have patents on their products. Next week on the Local Show, we meet some of those enterprising students.

Lead funding of KCPT’S reporting of education issues is funded in part by a generous grant from the Kauffman Foundation and additional civic funders.

Students gathering on stairs in the CAPS building

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