‘Heartland Together’ partnership comes to Maryville with multi-state listening tour

In an effort to address the systemic challenges that make it hard to start and grow local businesses in rural communities today, the Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) launched a two-week listening tour with stops in Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska.

The tour, which will be in Maryville on March 31, marks the opening phase of “Heartland Together,” a partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (EMKF) to strengthen support for entrepreneurs in these four Midwestern states.

The Maryville segment of the tour will be at 9 am, Thursday, March 31 in the community room at the Nodaway County Administration Center.

From March 21 to April 5, KLC facilitators will conduct listening sessions in more than 20 communities to elevate the conversation of healthy entrepreneurial ecosystems and build local civic engagement capacity.

“At the Kansas Leadership Center, we believe that anyone can exercise leadership at any time. We know that leadership at scale is required to create the conditions necessary for a thriving local business community,” said Dennis Clary, director of custom civic engagement at KLC. “Thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, we are excited to step out on this listening tour to foster leadership for stronger, healthier and more prosperous Heartland communities.”

In addition to Maryville, the Heartland Together listening tour sessions will take place in Carthage, West Plains, Joplin and Kirksville in Missouri; Sidney, Ogallala, McCook, Norfolk, Holt County/O’Neill and Grand Island in Nebraska; Liberal, Cowley County, Hutchinson, Dodge City, Liberal and Independence in Kansas; and Belmond, Iowa Falls, Marshalltown and Marion County in Iowa.

“Stronger communities depend on new and diverse ventures, what we traditionally refer to as entrepreneurship. We further know the success of entrepreneurs depends on the environment that supports them—their ecosystem. We are eager to learn more about the challenge of ecosystem building to inform how we can help more people and communities achieve economic prosperity in the heartland region,” said Lucy Petroucheva, civic engagement manager at KLC.