The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce is jumping into an area it’s never tackled.
At a packed event at the Chamber's Union Station headquarters, Chamber President Roshann Parris said the organization has a new item for its Big 5 agenda of civic goals: making sure every child in the metropolitan area is ready for kindergarten.
"No single issue impacts the health and vitality of our regional community and regional workforce more than education," Parris said.
Leading the effort will be Kay Barnes, former mayor of Kansas City, Mo. and now a professor at Park University, and Carol Marinovich, former Kansas City, Kan., mayor and now an adjunct professor at Donnelly College.
Joining the two former mayors is Tracy McFerrin Foster, vice president and secretary of the Hall Family Foundation.
Research shows that kids who aren’t prepared for kindergarten have trouble graduating from high school. Also, a lower percentage goes on to college -- while a higher percentage goes on to prison.
The chamber says its goal is simple: to make every child in Greater Kansas City kindergarten-ready when it's time to start school. Reaching that goal will be difficult.
Kansas City, Kan., school superintendent Cynthia Lane says making kids ready for kindergarten is the best tool for developing a work force.
“Think about it. When we prepare our young people to be kindergarten-ready, we are preparing them for life.”
The new goal replaces the chamber's previous Big 5 goal of bringing an animal health symposium to Kansas City.
