December 7, 2004 | Vol. 1 No. 1

Welcome to your Kauffman connection

Today we launch the first edition of "Ideas at Work," our electronic newsletter, where we highlight a variety of initiatives and take you to our Web site to learn more. Our site has been redesigned and rebuilt from the ground up to better reflect our work and make it easier for you to find information and resources. We also want to hear from you! Click on the "Idea Loop" link at the end of this newsletter to share your comments and suggestions.

Our enduring interest in Kansas City

The $9 million Kauffman Legacy Fund has been established as a gift to Kansas City that honors Ewing Marion Kauffman's hometown and his long-term commitment to the citizens in this community. The first grants to come from the new Legacy Fund are:

The Liberty Memorial Association will receive $500,000 to support operations for its state-of-the-art Horizon Theater and to develop the landmark's on-site interactive educational programs. The Heart of America United Way's YouthFriends program also has been awarded a $500,000 Legacy Fund grant to support the "Change the Math" initiative, which connects adult mentors with students in the Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas school districts. YWCA of Greater Kansas City will receive a $300,000 challenge grant to support the organization’s capital campaign to renovate a community theater, art gallery, and meeting spaces, in Kansas City, Kansas. The Truman Medical Center Charitable Foundation will receive $250,000 to support the medical center’s Corporate Academy, which was established to recruit and train more health care workers in Kansas City. Find out more

Closing the gap for minority entrepreneurs

The Kauffman Foundation has joined an unprecedented national partnership with the National Urban League, the Business Roundtable, and the Small Business Administration to encourage minority entrepreneurship by providing business training, coaching, procurement opportunities, and access to financing nationwide. The Urban Entrepreneur Partnership will create one-stop economic empowerment centers in Kansas City, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Jacksonville to help minority entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. The Foundation will fund the Kansas City economic empowerment center, and has provided a grant to build the capacity of the National Urban League to develop a national coaching model and provide on-site resources and technical assistance to all five centers.
Find out more

Opportunity City opens at Epcot

Inspired by the success of the Disney-Kauffman Hot Shot Business Internet simulation game, Opportunity City has opened at Disney's Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida. The new entrepreneurship exhibit features several activity stations, including state-of-the-art interactive kiosks that continue Disney's tradition of making learning fun. At each station, guests play a series of games where they must think and act quickly while learning what it takes to run a successful business. Find out more

Kauffman Foundation represented at UK's historic Enterprise Week

Representing the Kauffman Foundation, President and CEO Carl Schramm was an invited guest of the British government serving as a keynote speaker during the United Kingdom's first National Enterprise Week, November 15-19. Enterprise Week brought together hundreds of organizations from every region and nation of the UK to offer inspiration and practical advice, and celebrate enterprise in all its forms from business start-ups, nonprofit social enterprise, and education. Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown discussed the Kauffman Foundation at the event, describing the key role it plays in stimulating the American economy through its work to advance entrepreneurship. Brown told the audience that the UK would look to leaders in the U.S. to learn more about the American entrepreneurial experience.

Foundation adds to array of online resources

The Kauffman Foundation has launched two new Web portals. Our Entrepreneurship Research Portal provides a multi-disciplinary aggregation of resources, events, and data for researchers and policy makers. Our Giving Back to Entrepreneurship Portal offers ideas and resources, including a unique giving scale, highlighting different ways to share time, talent, and resources with entrepreneurs at every stage of development.

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© 2004 Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. All rights reserved.
(816) 932-1000 4801 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO 64110