Few cities anywhere have a community center that rivals North Kansas City’s dazzling new one, the site of Ingram’s Clay County Economic Development Assembly. There, on a sunny autumn morning, nearly 40 of the county’s political, educational, business, and economic development leaders met to discuss the county’s present and future.Co-chairing the event were Nettie Agnew representing North Kansas City Hospital and the Clay County Economic Development Council and Dr. Tom Cummings representing the North Kansas City School District and the Northland Schools Alliance.

State of the County

Co-chair Nettie Agnew summed up the current climate in the county in one succinct phrase, “an exciting time.” While the national economy stumbles, Clay County’s races ahead. Three of the county’s biggest employers—the Ford plant in Claycomo, Cerner Corporation and North Kansas City Hospital—continue to add employees. Prospect activity remains strong. In addition, said Agnew, “Residential Housing is booming in Clay County.” Indeed, two-thirds of Kansas City’s new housing permits are issued in a county that now only accounts for 20% of the city’s population. The combination of economic opportunity, an educational system “second to none,” and an “incredible quality of life” makes the county, in Agnew’s perspective, “one of the best places in the nation to live, work and play.”