Kansas City area college gets kudos from Kauffman Foundation

Some community colleges around the country, informally known as the Slingshot Group, are targeting their surrounding communities with outreach programs aimed at entrepreneurial education.

That’s a bull’s-eye effort, according to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which has sought out colleges that show innovative approaches to economic and workforce development.

Kansas City Kansas Community College is one of about 20 two-year colleges nationally that have been tapped by Kauffman to be initial Slingshot members.

KCKCC “is really committed to off-campus activity and providing resources” that “inject an entrepreneurial mindset” in students and non-students in Wyandotte County, said Jonathan Robinson, manager of Kauffman’s entrepreneurial program.

Robinson said Kauffman particularly was impressed with the school’s technical resource center, an “innovation space” that can be made available to inventors and entrepreneurs already in the community.

“It’s not just about credit hours,” Robinson said. “It’s about what it can be for the community.”

Kansas City Kansas Community College is offering an Entrepreneurship Certificate of Completion, using curriculum from Kauffman’s FastTrac entrepreneurial education program and from Ice House-The Entrepreneurial Mindset.

A kick-off event is set for 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 5, in the Jewell Student Center on campus at 7250 State Ave. For information about the program, email Karen Gaines at kgaines@kckcc.edu.

“It is quite significant that KCKCC was invited by Kauffman to be a part of the Slingshot network,” said Marvin Hunt, dean of business and continuing education. “We have been successful in gaining a reputation for entrepreneurshp, but I am not satisfied stopping there.”

Hunt said the college needs to “help our community grow new entrepreneurs at a fast rate” to build “wealth in the community and for individuals.”

This story was originally published August 4, 2014 at 11:32 AM.