More than 100 officials from south-central Kansas attended the REAP Economic Development Summit Nov. 1 to learn about strengthening the region's efforts to attract economic growth opportunities.
As the keynote speaker, Tim Cowden, president and CEO, Kansas City Area Development Council (pictured rifht), was the keynote at the Nov. 1 South Central Kansas Economic Development Summit, challenged representatives from the region's communities to "make the lines go away."
Cowden shared from his experiences with the KCADC, which has deliberately worked to brand Kansas City as a region.
That regional strategy was put to the test when Amazon announced its HQ2 search. While Kansas City was not one of the 20 finalists selected, Cowden said the proposal did receive high compliments and was a litmus test for how the Kansas City area will do future regional collaboration.
"We proved to our region that we can work together and we can take something we can use moving forward," he said.
