JE Dunn + team break ground on Operation Breakthrough Ignition Lab

Representatives from Operation Breakthrough, Eighty-Seven and Running, GC JE Dunn Construction and the design team recently celebrated the groundbreaking of the Ignition Lab, located at 3030 Troost Avenue in Kansas CIty, Mo.

When Travis Kelce signed a four-year, $57 million contract extension with the Kansas City Chiefs in August 2020, his first purchase was the Muffler Shop - that building will soon be transformed into the Ignition Lab, an environment designed to engage teens in real-world learning experiences through workforce development and entrepreneurship, providing multiple pathways after high school.  

“In signing on for six more years with the Chiefs, I’m recommitting myself to the work I have left to do off the field as well. Kids (that) I danced and ate pizza with at OB (Operation Breakthrough) a few years ago are now teenagers navigating a world that doesn’t always have their back,” said Kelce.

The Ignition Lab is the natural next step for students, ages 14-18, who have aged out of Operation Breakthrough’s MakerCity program having acquired basic skills in coding, circuitry, culinary arts, construction and design, digital media, robotics, visual art and more.

“We are excited to close the opportunity gap in STEM.  Helping our children explore a variety of different fields including computer science, automotive and engineering, manufacturing, electronics and multimedia will not only help them figure out what they are passionate about but create opportunities to build a strong portfolio of client work, certifications and capstone projects.  I know of no other program that will provide this range of opportunities for our high school children,” said Mary Esselman, CEO of Operation Breakthrough.

More than 700 urban Kansas City children come to Operation Breakthrough each weekday for nutritious food, lively learning, health and dental care, therapy and TLC, while their parents work or attend school.

The children range from infants to age 14. About 20 percent are homeless. More than 700 percent of families live on annual earnings of less than $12,000, 65 percent of our children witness violence by the age five. More than 90 percent of our 5-year-olds test “school ready” each year, as compared with fewer than 50 percent of children in poverty nationally.

The current Operation Breakthrough MakerSpace and MakerCity STEM spaces promote hands-on collaborative learning in the arts, electrical, robotics, construction, culinary arts, multimedia, automotive and engineering, maker and green tech for children age 5 to 14.

“The vision is to give them a safe haven where they can continue to find role models, discover interests and develop skills once they age out of OB’s after-school program. I’m so excited to be purchasing a building adjacent to OB’s MakerCity that will be the future home of ‘The Ignition Lab, powered by 87 & Running.’ Together with OB’s staff and supporters, we’ll create a co-working space where teens will have the support, resources and opportunity to explore careers in STEM, launch their own entrepreneurial ventures and gain real-world experience,” said Kelce.

Students at the Ignition Lab can enter into the experiences at a beginner level and work through experiences that build proficiency.  When they are ready, experiences are available for mastery development, including when appropriate industry recognized certifications.

When Operation Breakthrough students are at school, area high school students will use the space during the day to enhance their classroom curriculum. The Lab, designed by Clockwork Architecture + Design, is expected to open Fall 2021 at the beginning of the new school year. 

Other project partners include: MEP engineer - Lankford Fendler; structural engineer - STAND Engineering; civil engineer - BHC; owners representative - MC Realty Group; and Solar Consortium.

Before and after pictures of the lab along with some construction video are available via Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1loa9TQsc2mkYnCL71hu1HF9w8Arvhii4?usp=sharing

About Operation Breakthrough: Operation Breakthrough, incorporated in 1971, provides a safe, loving and educational environment for children in poverty and empowers their families through advocacy, emergency aid and education.  It cares for more than 700 children ages six week to 14-years-old every weekday and will be expanding to serve high school students in the fall. www.operationbreakthrough.org

About Eighty-Seven & Running: Founded by Travis Kelce, Eighty-Seven & Running helps underserved youth strive to become productive citizens by mentoring and motivating them to explore and develop their abilities while learning critical life skills. Founded in 2015, it has remained dedicated to providing resources and enrichment opportunities for youth and their communities through fundraising, athletic programs, mentoring, and outreach initiatives. www.87running.org

Training and education program sees strength in commercial real estate connections

Recently established in Kansas City, Skilled KC Technical Institute offers alternatives to traditional two- and four-year degree programs as a path to economic independence, thanks to substantial support from a not-for-profit sponsor.

Jeff Barratt leads Skilled KC, a private, non-profit, 501 (c)(3) affiliate of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

The foundation brought the Neosho native back to Missouri from Denver, where he headed the Emily Griffith Institute, an award-winning institution that graduates students at an 84% completion rate and places those graduates in great career tracks at an 81% rate, while graduating students debt-free.

Skilled KC has a $2.5 million endowment and reflects Barratt’s belief that “education in entrepreneurship is a way to achieve success.”

“We wanted to create an institution that was nimble and open access so students could get out of low-end jobs and graduate with little or no debt,” Barratt said.

The Skilled KC curriculum touts an entrepreneurial mindset featuring 18 attributes with a focus on creative ideation and communication. Barratt supports that mindset through his hiring philosophy: “We want people who are entrepreneurial.”

The institute is licensed to operate on both sides of the state line. Pilot programs launched this past September. Not surprisingly, the organization had to pivot to be fully virtual and then were able to develop a hybrid approach.

Skilled KC is unique in the way it shapes its presence in the commercial real estate community.

“We have a campus-within-a-campus philosophy. We aren’t interested in large buildings (of our own), so we will partner with private companies or education institutions to use (existing) space. We can collaborate with real estate partners. We’re in the process of formalizing arrangements with external colleagues,” Barratt said.

Another aspect of the business that sets it apart is that Skilled KC is “competency-based and backward-designed from industry feedback,” said Barratt.

Its “earn while you earn” and stackable credential model focuses on the occupations that are the most in demand.

Skilled KC currently has a 6,000-SF facility on a short lease at the foundation (4801 Rockhill Road) and private lab space with the Kansas University Medical Center on State Line Road.

“We’re looking at renovating space as a hub; our model is a hub-and-spoke so we can meet students where they are,” Barratt said.

“We don’t want to spend a lot of money on real estate space because we want flexibility so we can move programs in and out. I’m a driver of efficiency — I hate to see space that is empty. I want to maximize space.”

Barratt said the pandemic created more opportunities that fit its real estate philosophy.

“I wouldn’t want to be an investor in large buildings now. I think there will be a trend or movement into shared space. We will see more big box store partnerships, such as Kohls with Amazon,” Barratt said.

Barratt has found space in Kansas City because “people are seeking me out,” which is gratifying evidence that Skilled KC is seen as an anchor tenant.

“It can be attractive for tax benefits,” he said.

He looks for space in terms of access for students and understanding a community perspective, such as the need for child care and transportation.

“We look at developers with a social perspective,” he said.

The institute has already joined forces with design-architectural partner, Gould Evans.

Skilled KC started with three pilot programs — software development, advanced manufacturing and biotechnology. The next offering will be in cybersecurity.

Plans call for entering the St. Louis market; Barratt is already talking to area businesses about possible connections with that focus. He also envisions eventually taking the institute to a national level.

“The KC site is our proof of concept,” Barratt said.

For more information, see www.skilledkc.org.

CBKC awarded $800,000 grant for Blue Parkway Sun Fresh

Emmet Pierson, Jr., chief executive officer of Community Builders of Kansas City (CBKC), announced this week that the organization has received an $800,000 grant from the Office of Community Services (OCS) to serve job retention and creation for Blue Parkway Sun Fresh.

CBKC became the owner / operator of the grocery store - one of the few full-service supermarkets east of Prospect Avenue - in June of this year.

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt and U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II were instrumental in supporting CBKC’s application for the OCS grant. Rep. Cleaver participated in a ceremonial check presentation at an outdoor concert of Kansas City Symphony musicians hosted by CBKC last weekend.

“At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is causing organizations to shed jobs by the thousands, CBKC has an opportunity to not only keep and add jobs but do so in a critically underserved community. The fact that this allows us to grow a grocery asset in what otherwise would be another urban food desert is especially gratifying,” Pierson said.

Blue Parkway Sun Fresh currently has more than 60 employees, the majority of whom live in the same or adjacent zip codes.

This OCS grant followed a $500,000 city of Kansas City, Mo. grant received from the office of Neighborhoods & Housing Services. The city’s grant, part of monies funded to combat local effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, will enable CBKC to add online grocery ordering and pick-up services at Blue Parkway Sun Fresh.

“Blue Parkway Sun Fresh already has a great leadership team with John King as store manager and others like Michelle Mitchell of the Stapleton family, whose grandfather Leon Stapleton owned what is thought to have been the oldest black-owned grocery store in the country until it closed in 2019. We are developing the most modern of supermarkets with the warmest, most old-school customer service, Pierson said.

Unrelated to the grocery, another recently received COVID-19 grant from Neighborhoods & Housing Services for $592,000 will enable CBKC, in partnership with the Hispanic Economic Development Corporation (HEDC), to expand services at the Blue Hills Executive Center. Pierson said HEDC will provide technical assistance at the Center, housed in the CBKC-owned 5008 Prospect building, to minority and women entrepreneurs as they look to reposition or start a business in the COVID and post-COVID era.

“We are pleased to see the growth in national attention and funding coming to CBKC projects. With the $100,000 JPMorgan Chase grant last year and this most recent OCS grant, we hope it is just the tip of the iceberg of new, national equity finding value in what CBKC is working to accomplish for Kansas City’s black and brown communities,” Pierson said.