To be a competitor in the global economy, cities must reach out to others. This bi-state community inherently understands the need for regional cooperation. And Kansas City knows that strong cities can only be built with the muscle of strong partnerships.

One exemplary co-leadership program is anchored by Hallmark Cards and Sprint. The high-technology training project aims to reduce the need to import technology workers from abroad. It instead works to nurture a strong workforce right in the Greater Kansas City area. This project will target new and incumbent workers for training and provide high-tech skills for high-tech jobs. Another component of the program is the targeting of small businesses that have the need for workers with high-tech skills.

Regional cooperation is certainly the foundation of a strong economy. But partnerships can improve more than just the business community’s bottom line. Some of Kansas City’s most successful examples of regional cooperation are centered on the environment. Just as water and air can’t be confined to one zip code, neither can the organizations working to keep them clean.

Countless communities, civic leaders, and everyday residents come together in a number of ways to address the area’s environment concerns. One example of regional leadership is the Brownfield Initiative, a coalition of community, industry, and federal and local government representatives committed to redevelopment of the bi-state Central Industrial District. The group works to redevelop areas complicated by the presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants. By partnering with each other, Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas, were able to receive an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot grant—the first bi-state award in the country.