Your Chamber at Work - March 30, 2020
FROM THE KC CHAMBER'S PRESIDENT AND CEO
A few important items for you this morning.
Kansas Stay-at-Home order: Governor Laura Kelly has taken the right and prudent step in announcing a stay-at-home order for the State of Kansas. Immediately after her announcement Saturday, the KC Chamber, Civic Council, and Kansas City Area Development Council issued a statement applauding her decision. Our three organizations believe her action will save lives and place Kansas ever closer to emerging from this crisis and reigniting the engine of the Kansas and KC regional economy.
Our area hospitals have been asking us to continue to stress the importance of sheltering in place. Without Governor Kelly’s statewide order, the concern is that hospitals in Kansas City, Topeka, and Wichita could be overrun with the most severe cases transferred from other hospitals throughout the state.
Our three organizations sent letters to both Governor Kelly and Missouri Governor Mike Parson on Friday urging them to take action. Fortunately, a Kansas stay-at-home order was already in the works. We continue to ask Missouri Governor Parson to issue a similar order for the State of Missouri.
COVID-19 Business Survey: We’re releasing results of our survey of area businesses across our bistate region regarding the immediate impact and planned response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. (Thanks to those of you who responded!)
Among the highlights: more than half of survey respondents expect to struggle to meet their financial obligations; more than half of all small to medium-sized businesses told us they’d be interested in a low-interest rate SBA loan; and, when asked about the broader community, businesses said access to medical care; child care; food bank support; and housing relief were their major concerns.
The survey was a collaboration between the KC Chamber, Civic Council, KCADC, and the States of Missouri and Kansas. Click here to see the results.
KC Hospitals: Our hospital partners/members are sharing advice and asking for assistance. We have started adding their information to our resource page and that information can be found here.
THE KANSAS CITY REGIONAL COVID-19 RESPONSE AND RECOVERY FUND
With the need for community resources so great during the COVID-19 crisis, the Kansas City Regional COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund is now active. The Fund’s coordinating organizations, led by the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, United Way of Greater Kansas City, LISC Greater Kansas City (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) and MARC (Mid-America Regional Council) have set an initial goal of $10M, hoping to exceed that as community needs require. The Fund will support critical needs including, but not limited to, housing support, food insecurity, access to health care, and support of charitable organizations. There’s even greater incentive to contribute, as the Hall Family Foundation and Sunderland Foundation have partnered on a challenge grant of matching up to $5 million. Click here to donate, to see a full list of Founding Funders and to learn how your business or organization can get involved.
HIRING VETERANS IS GOOD BUSINESS: NAVIGATING THE DIVERSE MILITARY WORKFORCE LANDSCAPE
Register now for Hiring Veterans is Good Business: Navigating the Diverse Military Workforce Landscape. This free webinar is April 28, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. This session covers translating what veterans and their spouses can bring to your organization, leveraging the prior training and experience of this diverse employee pool within your own workforce, discovering what qualities veterans are seeking in potential employers, and more. This workshop is sponsored by Grantham University. A special thanks to you 2020 Presenting Diversity Sponsors: CommunityAmericaCredit Union, Evergy, Hallmark, and Sprint.
CENSUS 2020
Now is the time to make sure you have filled out your Census form. You should’ve received a packet in the mail, or you can fill it out digitally from a computer, tablet, or phone. The confidential and secure responses are important. An undercount in 2020 like the one we had in 2010 means the KC region will lose out on $48 million in vital Federal funding. That money is used in everything from infrastructure to education to health and business. The information is also used to determine how many seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives, If you haven’t responded by now, you’ll get a reminder postcard in the mail, and in-person follow-ups will begin in late May for households that haven’t completed their Census form. You can learn more about the Census effort in KC at Census2020kc.org.