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Let’s Own Kansas City’s Future

KC Digital Drive celebrates three years of community innovation and looks to the future of our economy with FORWARD TO THE FUTURE: A Civic Tech Cocktail Reception and Futureraiser. This one-of-a-kind event is Tuesday, August 18, 2015, from 5:30-7:30pm at Grand St. Cafe. Admission is $75 and includes appetizers and cocktails.

Get FutureKC Tickets Here

Why Now?

This summer marks the third anniversary of Kansas City’s Digital Playbook and the birth of KC Digital Drive.

These homegrown initiatives have become national models for how a city plans for and owns its digital future.

On August 18, we’ll celebrate the Playbook’s success. But, even more important, we’ll look ahead at ways we can own our digital future.

On the table at this exciting event: closing the digital divide, fueling innovation to drive the economy, and highlighting Kansas City as a global leader in technology for positive civic impact.

FORWARD TO THE FUTURE is the first local, nonprofit-driven event that brings together civic luminaries, entrepreneurial innovators, corporate leaders and nonprofit advocates — all under the banner of civic tech. It is designed for all Kansas City community champions who recognize technology’s importance to our future growth.

Agenda:

• Networking and Live Jazz by the Hermon Mehari Trio (5:30-6:00pm)
• Mayors Sly James and Mark Holland on Kansas City’s Digital Future
• Revisiting the Community Playbook with Mike Burke and Ray Daniels of the Mayors’ Bistate Innovation Team
• Securing Our Future Prosperity in a Digital Economy with KC Digital Drive Director Aaron Deacon
• A Panel of National Civic Tech Experts Including:
  • Deb Socia – Next Century Cities
  • Alaina Harkness – The MacArthur Foundation
  • Luke Norris – Code for America
• Lightning Talks from 10 of KC’s Brightest Innovators in Health, Education, Entrepreneurship & Tech:
  • Adam Arredondo – CEED / KCSV
  • Dominique Davison –PlanIT Impact
  • Joe Fives –Kansas City Kansas Public Schools
  • Kari Keefe –Think Big Foundation
  • Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner – The Kansas City Public Library
  • Michael Liimatta – Connecting for Good
  • Jeff Schackelford – The Digital Sandbox
  • Drew Solomon – The Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, MO
  • Morgan Waller – Children’s Mercy Hospital
  • Ryan Weber – KCnext

Admission includes hors d’oeuvres, beer, wine and soft drinks.

Who Are We?

KC Digital Drive is a 501(c)(3) charitable nonproft whose mission is to make Kansas City a digital leader to secure our economic prosperity and improve the quality of life for all people in the region.

Commissioned in the summer of 2012, we were tasked with implementing a strategic plan (i.e. the Playbook) for how Kansas City’s then-nascent gigabit fiber-to-the-home network could be used to accomplish positive social and civic outcomes.

These goals included improving lives through digital inclusion, boosting the economy by creating new businesses, fostering next-level technology innovation, and elevating Kansas City’s profile as a smart city.

Since 2012, we have worked to establish a model that both works for our region and can be adopted in other cities so that they can benefit from the lessons learned in Kansas City. This ethos was demonstrated in the GIGABIT CITY SUMMIT conference held in Jan. 2015, at which 200 delegates from 50 cities across the U.S. converged in Kansas City over three days to soak in our experiences and take them back to their communities.

We hope that you will join KC DIGITAL DRIVE on AUGUST 18 for this very special event.

Purchase tickets: futurekc.splashthat.com