Other cities typically are facing issues similar to what KC is facing.
How can we learn from them? How are communities like Boston, Dallas, Nashville, or Denver working to keep their cities vibrant and growing?
Each year, the KC Chamber takes a delegation of more than a hundred business leaders, elected officials, and nonprofit officials to a city to study the best practices in crime prevention, economic growth, transportation, health care, and other challenges.It’s an opportunity to learn, to contrast those cities with our own, and to network with leaders from throughout the KC region.
The Chamber’s first Leadership Exchange was in 2003 when the KC Chamber escorted 55 regional leaders to Pittsburgh, PA for a look at downtown redevelopment, arts investment, philanthropy, and sports stadiums. In 2024, 175 went to Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Past
Leadership
Exchange
Cities
2024
Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul)
Regional cooperation, public safety and justice, innovation in early education and childcare, retaining Fortune 500 companies, lessons from the Center for Economic Inclusion, sports stadium journey
2023
San Antonio
Port San Antonio, Pre-K for SA, Ready to Work, UTSA Downtown Growth
2022
Detroit
Economic redevelopment, downtown revitalization, workforce development, reconnecting Detroit with interstate highways.
2021
Salt Lake City
Workforce development, regional transit planning, partnering with state leaders, immigration reform, community visioning and leadership.
2019
Nashville
Business to education impact, regional collaboration, downtown vitality, and healthcare.
2018
Denver
Regional collaboration, workforce development and business-education partnerships, transportation and innovating mobility, and scientific and cultural facilities.
2017
Boston
Innovation ecosystems, K-12 and higher education reform measures, and collaboration between higher education and business, crime and