genKC helps young professionals in Kansas City grow through professional development events, community involvement opportunities, and networking events. It has experienced growth in recent years by adding new types of events. genKC works with community partners and sponsors to provide over 20 events per year focused on enhancing skills and retaining young talent in Kansas City. The organization also supports early childhood education initiatives to engage young professionals and help the community.

1. KC C H A M B E R N E W S L E T T E R
VOLU M E 4 I S SU E 5 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6
B U S I N E S S
ADAM BLAKE
A Conversation
YOUNG
PROFESSIONALS
Learn and Grow
through genKC
POWERCONNECTIONS
Mentorship Leads
to Success

2. 8 KC C H A M B E R .C O M S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6
GENKC
HELPS
YOUNG
PROFESSIONALS
LEARN AND
GROW IN
KANSAS CITY
K
ansas City, as Kerri Troyer, Chair of genKC,
would say, is a community ready to burst at
the seams. With affordable living, successful
professional sports teams, and a rising population,
what else would a flourishing city need? That
question was emphasized in the creation of genKC
about eight years ago, and the need for young
professional retention efforts helped solve the
problem.
“At the Sprint Center and surrounding area, I
see young professionals trying more to be involved
in their community on multiple platforms and it
is something people are accepting,” says Troyer.
“When you walk down a street, you see tons of
Charlie Hustle shirts with a KC mark and ten years
ago you would not see people wearing shirts with
the words Kansas City on it. I know that is a very
simple way to describe or define it, but people are
very prideful of their community, of their work-
place, where they live, and where they interact.”
genKC’s mission has been to reach out to more
young professionals over the years, and Greater
Kansas City’s growth has helped bridge the gap.
Recent statistics show an increase of over 16,000
young professionals in Kansas City since genKC’s
creation in 2008, and that KC is above the U.S. av-
erage for people with higher education, according
to MetroInsight.
genKC excels at reaching young professionals
with community involvement, professional devel-
opment, membership and recruitment events in the
KC area. Like Kansas City, genKC is growing, and
for Drew Elliott, Vice Chair of genKC, the growth’s
helped to add new events for the members.
“I think it happened organically,” says Elliott.
“A few different things happened over the last few
years, but one was the volunteer committee, prob-
ably two or three years ago, recognized that young
professionals in the Kansas City area don’t want
just happy hours, they want networking. Looking at
other opportunities for them to want professional
development, or give back, or stuff like that really
resonated with the audience we had.”

3. S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6 KC C H A M B E R .C O M 9
genKC hosts and takes on many different tasks
during the year, but a key strategy this year was to sup-
port the Chamber’s Big-5 Initiative for early childhood
education improvements.
The organization partners with Faxon Elementary
in the Urban Neighborhood Initiative area of Kansas
City, Missouri for the project. They have activities like
the Breakfast, Books and Buddies program, a reading
program, for volunteers to bring breakfast and read to
students before the school day, in addition they are pur-
chasing school supplies for all students in the school.
The education initiative and mix of so many other op-
portunities for young professionals are just a few reasons
genKCers start mingling with their peers in KC.
“For community involvement we had an event out at
harvesters, we had people out there sorting food, and a
couple different projects,” says Elliott. “We did a holiday
happy hour party last year to raise money for Big Broth-
ers Big Sisters, we’ve done a trivia night for a networking
event, a few others along those lines.”
The list doesn’t end there. From the time the genKC
Steering Committee Board establishes the annual goals
at their board retreat in the fall, genKC keeps the events
rolling during the year.
Like the genKC mission says, “Attract and retain
young professionals in Kansas City by providing them
with opportunities to enhance their personal and profes-
sional skill set through a variety of networking, communi-
ty involvement and professional development events.”
This attitude by genKC stands true with 20+ events
hosted per year, with the professional development events
as some of the most popular. The events, such as Grow to
CEO featuring prominent executives, and the roundtable
events, have the biggest attendance with over 300 people.
The growing status of genKC is due in part to new
events put on during the year, like the volunteer night at
the Kansas City Neighborhood Academy, the KC Beer
Fest; Brews, Books and Baseball, and the second-annual
Grow to genKC intern event.
Grow to genKC not only improved in audience
attendance to a sell-out 350+ interns at the H&R Block
Headquarters in KC, but was a nice compliment to more
goals by genKC this year to add to diversity and aware-
ness in its events. The five-person panel had a mix of
ethnicities and gender, and professions ranging from
law to non-profits, and more to give as many voices and
perspectives as possible.
genKC’s access to young professionals is immense,
with 10,000 in the KC area, but a key to the organiza-
tion’s success is the help of its generous sponsors. There
are about 25 sponsors and community partners for gen-
KC, and they keep close ties with the goal to retain talent
for Kansas City.
“We recognize the importance of fostering a strong
sense of community in young professionals in Kan-
sas City and we’re proud to support the efforts of the
Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce through
the progressive genKC program,” says Erin Schnei-
der-Stucky, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing
at Blue Cross and Blue Shield Kansas City. “genKC gives
young professionals invaluable opportunities to en-
hance both their personal and professional skill set. The
development and experiences genKC provides not only
empowers, but helps attract and retain young talent for
our community.”
What does the future have in store for genKC? That
question is still being answered, but the goal is to get
more young professionals involved for a bigger and bet-
ter Kansas City.
“genKC is growing and building young professionals,”
says Troyer. “So young professionals means many differ-
ent things these days, it means singles, it means married,
it means families that are young and just starting out
with kids, there’s multiple platforms and how I think gen-
KC affects that is we have something for everyone. And
so in addition to the happy hours, there’s also network-
ing, and there’s also serving your community, and there
are things for every level of a young professional. Kansas
City has art, they have education, they have sports, they
have concerts, they have award winning restaurants, the
list goes on and on.” E
This article was written by the KC Chamber’s KU Journalism
Intern, Nashia Baker. For more information about young profes-
sional opportunities with genKC, please contact the KC Cham-
ber’s Taylor Hartley, Hartley@kcchamber.com, (816) 374-5435.