Kansas Economic Development Institute

Programs: Workforce aid (aligning with industry demands): a pilot initiative that was developed at first for northwest kansas and the need for employees and trained talent for businesses. This initiative as the name implies is an attempt to implement a more hands on effort to find, train, and place employees to meet the needs of businesses in kansas. The initiative will test whether this model is practical, efficient and is truly wanted by the companies. The program has been expanded to test if it could be scaled to other industries and to other parts of the state.

water research: understanding the demand side of water use in our state. As part of developing the 50 year water vision for the state of kansas a study was initiated to understand the "demand" side based on an economic analysis centered on industry, agriculture and municipal needs of projecting out 50 years. Most studies around water research have been almost solely focused on the "supply" side of our water. This study is a comprehensive study that looks at the "demand" needs whether it is around lakes and streams or the aquifers in western and south central kansas. This study was prepared for the kansas water office and for the citizens of our state.

transportation research: in an effort to better understand the transportation needs in northeast kansas research is being done by providers that have knowledge and experience in transportation issues. Given the build out of the intermodal facility in the gardner, kansas area further economic impact studies are warranted in other modes of transportation.