Work Force Development

Bloch Family Keeps Giving, $21M Donation Goes to UMKC

Henry Bloch may have died earlier this year, but the H&R Block co-founder's spirit lives on in the world of philanthropy. The Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation is giving $21 million to the University of Missouri-Kansas City Foundation, focused… more

Kelly, Parson Sign Border War Agreement

Businesses expecting special tax incentives to make a move from South Kansas City to Overland Park, or from Lee's Summit to Lenexa, are out of luck. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson just signed an agreement between… more

Gov. Parson Has a Democratic Challenger

Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat, has put her hat in the ring to challenge Republic Gov. Mike Parson for the office in the August of 2020 election. Galloway, from Columbia, late last month publicly asked Parson to take… more

Topeka Chosen For Animal Health/Ag Tech Accelerator Program

Plug and Play, a Silicon Valley-based firm that provides venture capital funds to startups, and had a role in the growth of Dropbox, PayPal and other ventures, named Topeka a startup accelerator city in the areas of animal health and… more

Lucas Inauguration Stresses Infrastructure Improvements

Kansas City's new mayor, Quinton Lucas, made his inauguration speech today, and touched on infrastructure issues that are vital to the metro's business community. He mentioned the new terminal at KCI Airport, which recently underwent the demolition of Terminal A,… more

Langenkamp Out at EDCKC

Robert Langenkamp is stepping down as president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, effective July 8. His interim replacement is Greg Flisram, senior vice president of business and real estate development, who has been… more

VIDEO: Sean Miller: K.C. Employee Retention Improving

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPu9j-mjbzU&feature=youtu.be[/embed] There's a lot of talk about the difficulty Kansas City area employers' ability to retain workers, but the situation has constantly improved over the years, says Sean Miller, chief executive officer of insurance firm Robert E. Miller Group. More… more

Kansas City Scores Major Win with Two Ag Dept. Sites

Kansas City has secured two highly prized federal agencies that have been reviewing relocation sites nationwide: The Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service  and National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The Kansas City Area Development Council announced that decision with a… more

UMKC, Bloch Foundations Roll Out $20 Million Scholarship Program

Since his arrival on the UMKC campus last summer, Chancellor Mauli Agrawal has talked about the need for the university to increase both its enrollment and the numbers of graduates entering the regional work force. Today, UMKC backed up that… more

Opportunity Knocks

In his 2012 book titled “The Laws of Opportunity,” Suoyo Aganaba wrote that “opportunity most often presents itself as a problem that demands a solution.” It’s just possible, then, that the economic-development incentives built into the tax reforms of 2017… more