As many of you probably already know, Kansas City is working to become the most entrepreneurial city in the country through the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Big 5 Ideas. To reach that goal, we have to ensure our community is inclusive so that all entrepreneurs can turn their unique ideas into reality and, hopefully, a healthy bottom line. Engaging women-owned businesses and molding city government’s processes to be a conduit for prosperity and not a paperwork impediment is essential to that endeavor. 

That is exactly why, in October, my office launched the Women’s Empowerment (WE) Initiative with the primary goal of taking action steps to ensure that city government works well for the women who work for it and for the women who do business with the city. We partnered with the Central Exchange, the Women’s Foundation of Greater Kansas City, and UMKC’s Women’s Center to create a blueprint of strategies to improve opportunities for women in city government and women business owners and entrepreneurs.

WE looked internally to see how we can provide better working conditions, offer opportunities for women to excel and access education, and improve career mobility so that women could rise to take on more leadership and management positions. Hundreds of employees participated in four in-person feedback sessions and an anonymous online survey to provide input. They gave us ideas and suggestions on how we can improve our culture, processes and policies to ensure that we are an inclusive, forward-thinking organization.

At the end of the day, we can hardly ask the business community to change its culture and operate differently if we aren’t setting a good example ourselves. To that end, WE also sought to address city processes impacting women business owners and ensure that we have policies that promote economic development and entrepreneurship. Basically, doing business with the city shouldn’t take women away from running their businesses. Women (and some forward-thinking men) spoke, and we listened. The blueprint for women’s empowerment was unveiled in March, and we are steadily working toward its implementation.

I know that empowering women isn’t as easy as marking things off a checklist and calling it a day. But we must be deliberate in doing something about empowering women and not just talking about it. That’s why I’m so proud of the WE initiative—it’s all about action items associated with the blueprint for women’s empowerment.

I hope you’ll check www.kcmayor.org/we to learn about the WE blueprint and receive updates on our progress. We may not be able to change the culture overnight, but I know that if we stay committed to our goal of empowering women to maximize their potential, then we can succeed and, in the process, make Kansas City the very best it can be.