Shared learning drives deeper collective understanding of economic mobility among regional research and data community

Ewing Kauffman believed that research and data were critical to understand what creates significant impact. For the work of his Foundation, strategy would guide investments and learning would be shared.

That spirit was carried into the third annual Economic Mobility Research and Data Forum Oct. 5 at the Kansas City Art Institute. The event illustrates how the Foundation’s Research, Learning, and Evaluation (RLE) team, led by Yvonne Owens Ferguson, Ph.D., implements the RLE strategy, welcoming a growing number of the region’s researchers, data professionals, evaluators, and community partners to share knowledge, explore emerging evidence, and strengthen collaboration in support of equitable economic mobility across the Kansas City region.

The Foundation is committed to working with communities to better understand how different systems and conditions interact to impact economic mobility. This requires bringing a wider range of voices to the work, expanding engagement with the expertise, perspectives, and evaluation approaches available across the field to leverage our collective impact.

During the forum, participants engaged with a presentation of local economic mobility data and discussed implications. They also had opportunities to ask policy and research questions of local leaders, such as the Missouri and Kansas Commissioners of Education.

Additionally, case studies of participatory learning and evaluation approaches, moderated by Dr. Suzanne Stluka, director of evaluation in RLE, spurred conversation on how community engagement can bring value to the research process. Participants also engaged in a fireside chat with Foundation President and CEO Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace to understand the history and values driving the Foundation’s engagement with data.

“We each have our own specific lane in supporting economic mobility. Together, we can build a shared understanding of systems and progress over time,” Ferguson said. “Intentional collaboration among diverse perspectives can make our work more relevant, responsive, and useful, driving evidence-informed strategies and investments that can position Kansas City as a national model for economic mobility.”

Convening the research and data community creates space for collective learning that can fuel collective impact.