The Platte County Economic Development Council (PCEDC) hosted its second Quarterly Member Luncheon on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the KCI Expo Center. The event featured keynote speaker Dr. Leigh Anne Taylor Knight, the Executive Director and Chief Operation Officer of The DeBruce Foundation, who highlighted the work of the Foundation throughout the Kansas City metro as well as their current workforce initiatives.
PCEDC Chairman Darren Hennen opened the luncheon by acknowledging elected officials, high-level PCEDC investors, board members, new members, and special guests in attendance. He then introduced the event sponsor, Turner Construction, and invited them on stage to say a few words. Nick Durand, Division Manager – Special Projects at Turner, spoke about the company’s significant investment in the Northland, notably their partnership with Meta’s data center project, and emphasized their commitment to workforce development.
As workforce development was the key theme of the luncheon, PCEDC Secretary/Treasurer Dr. Adrian James and Board Member Gina Sebree took the stage to highlight the Platte County Workforce Alliance and their 2024 initiatives within College & Career Readiness, Upskilling & Reskilling, and Talent Recruitment & Retention. They then introduced Dr. Taylor Knight and welcomed her to the stage.
Dr. Taylor Knight started her presentation with an overview of The DeBruce Foundation and its mission to expand pathways to economic growth and opportunity. Founded by Paul DeBruce in 1988, the Foundation aims to give back to the greater Kansas City region and beyond. Since its inception, The DeBruce Foundation has consistently invested in various organizations and initiatives to improve the lives of others and strengthen the community.
The Foundation currently utilizes many programs to help individuals explore career pathways, including Agilities©. Dr. Taylor Knight emphasized that this initiative helps career seekers, educators, and organizational leaders discover and leverage their strengths, interests, and skills that are valuable within the workforce. Through their website agilities.org, the Foundation utilized data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and identified fundamental themes of work activities that are common across various occupations. These common themes, or Agilities, appear in all jobs across the economy. The Agilities are defined as:
- Developing Others
- Innovating
- Inspecting
- Judging and Estimating
- Managing
- Operating Objects
- Organizing
- Selling and Communicating
- Serving and Caring
- Working with Information
Agilities.org also offers a variety of free tools and resources for individuals to identify their strengths and interests to reach goals and prepare for a successful tomorrow. This includes the Agile Work Profiler and Career Explorer Tools. A full list of these resources can be found on their website.
Thank you, Dr. Taylor Knight, for taking time out of your busy schedule to participate in our luncheon and interact with our group! We sincerely appreciate all your dedication to workforce development and look forward to partnering with The DeBruce Foundation through our Platte County Workforce Alliance in the near future.
