QUARTER 3 UPDATE
As we near the end of year one of the 5-year Momentum 2027 community plan, we are beyond excited to share the progress that is being made in Topeka and Shawnee County.
In addition to the communities progress towards strategic metrics reviewed in the update video, the work continues and can be seen in some Momentum 2027 highlights.
a place to live
The Downtown Masterplan is well underway with the successful completion of the work on Quincy Street from 6th Avenue to 8th Avenue to remove the travel lanes and add in a bike lane.
The Topeka Area Sports Commission, TASC, is utilizing the United Way VolunteerTopeka website platform to generate sports recreation volunteers.
a place to prosper
The Plug and Play fall cohort was announced. This class boasts 11 startups in Animal Health and 13 startups in Agricultural Technology. Kansas State’s K-State 105 Plan has had it’s request for state funding approved for 2024 and 2025. Go Topeka will be serving on the pilot team as an Urban Partner.
a place to learn
The Child Care Task Force has received several awards to aid in the betterment of childcare in Topeka. A Child Care Capacity Grant was awarded totaling just under 2.8 million dollars with 9 potential projects. An Innovation Community add-on brought an additional $250,000 dollar award in which programs will be created to grow the childcare workforce, increase pay and make benefits available to childcare workers, as well as engage the business community as childcare champions to support increasing availability and affordability in Shawnee County. The Patterson Family Infant and Toddler Center held its groundbreaking in October. This center will provide additional childcare space in the Highland Park area.
Washburn University has engaged in a formal design process to define the full scope of renovations for Henderson Hall, helping to further the world class learning facilities available right here in Topeka.
a place to belong
On October 16th, the “Choose Topeka” Telemundo segment aired and garnered over 1,800 inquiries in the form of phone calls, voice mails, emails, and walk-ins! This is an impressive effort toward recruiting Latinx folks to Shawnee County. This is also complimented by the My Topeka Campaign receiving new coverage from El Mundo and Telemundo about the quality-of-life Topeka offers and highlights how welcoming Topeka is to immigrants and non-native speakers.
The Partnership also hosted the winners of NYC2Topeka contest. The contest was Visit Topeka’s response to harsh words by New York Mayor Adams. The winners arrived in late October and thoroughly enjoyed their visit and what Topeka had to offer. We are also working on a new video series highlighting quality of life and travel options in Topeka.
Published 11/9/2023