The Symposium will be held at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center (4801 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO 64110) on Friday, May 16, 2025.
8:00-8:30AM: Breakfast (Town Square Room)
Opening Sessions (Town Square Room)
8:30-9:00AM: Welcoming remarks by representatives of Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (EMKF) and UMKC (Town Square Room)
- DeAngela Burns-Wallace, President & CEO, EMKF
- Troy Lillebo, Associate Vice Chancellor, External Relations, UMKC
9:00-9:50AM: Kick-Off Session—Symposium Themes (Town Square Room)
Moderator:
- Evan Absher, Assistant Clinical Professor, UMKC School of Law
Panelists:
- Shannon Jackson, Professor of Anthropology, UMKC School of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Jo Jensen, Founder & CEO, MovieGoer
- Rob Nelson, Educator and Writer
- John Tyler, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, EMKF
9:50-10:00AM: Break/Move to Breakout Rooms
10:00AM-12:10PM: Morning Breakout Sessions (in three Breakout Rooms):
Track 1: Capital Investment in Social Enterprises
10:00-11:00 (Troost Room):
Human Capital: Innovators in Affordable Housing
Session Description: Lack of affordable housing in Kansas City and regionally is a large and complex problem. The solution will come from significant and thoughtful deployment of financial capital in many forms, but will also originate from ideas, initiatives and effort at an individual and local level: the human capital. The panel discussion will highlight the stories of organizations in the Kansas City area focused on such solutions in the often-overlapping areas of creating affordable housing stock, transitional housing and homelessness prevention, innovative construction approaches and homeownership readiness. The panelists will discuss the varying types of capital they have used or need to create and continue to scale these solutions.
Moderator:
- Mark Rieger, Chief Brand Officer, First Federal Bank of Kansas City
Panelists:
- Erica Andrade, President & CEO, El Centro
- Dan Carroll, Founder, The Way Home
- Rosana Polanco, Founder & CEO, Embrace Your Shine
- Godfrey Riddle, Founder & CEO, Civic Saint
11:10-12:10 (Troost Room):
Regional Housing Fund
Session Description: In late 2023, The Regional Housing partnership began designing a regional fund to address the region’s housing crisis. The outcome of that process is The Regional Housing Fund, a large capital facility that could help build, retain, or restore 25,000 affordable housing units over the next 20 years. Next month, The Regional Housing Partnership presents to the boards of several local funders to implement a $15M pilot to test the Regional Housing Fund. If successful, the fund will grow to $400M over the next two years, facilitating the building, restoring, or retaining of almost 25,000 units of affordable housing and almost 70,000 units over 20 years. The Regional Housing Fund will provide flexible, affordable capital to existing projects and local developers already building in communities across the metro area. It will also incentivize the creation of more developer talent and the adoption of new housing models, both from a built environment and financial perspective.
Moderator:
- Jessica Hembre, Principal, Platform Civic Strategies
Panelists:
- Jean-Paul Chaurand, Executive Vice President, Bloch Family Foundation
- Ashley Hand, Director of Local Government Services, Mid-America Regional Council
- Geoff Jolley, Executive Director, LISC KC
- Anna White, Executive Director, The Way Home
Track 2: Arts as Vehicles for Social Entrepreneurship
10:00-11:00 (Paseo Room):
Documentary Films with Social Purposes
Session Description: This session will focus on documentary filmmaking and film production and how this industry illuminates social issues in the Kansas City region, across the country, and internationally. The panelists in this session have created documentaries and produced films that use storytelling and journalism to inform consideration of reforms in law and policy, and to energize positive change in communities across the world. These panelists will discuss how their work raises awareness around social issues, encourages investment in communities, and aids in solving issues that impact marginalized communities. Using examples of their productions and delivery methods, including in-person screening of their films, the panelists hope to inspire others to embrace the capacity of documentary films to draw people who may have opposing views together, provide them with relevant information, and encourage them to channel their shared humanity into conversations in spaces that afford debate and seek solutions for the common good.
Moderator:
- Zoda Ballew, J.D. Student, UMKC School of Law
Panelists:
- Jo Jensen, Founder & CEO, MovieGoer
- Nico Giles Wiggins, Creative Producer, Nico Giles Media
- Michael Price, Founder, English Landing Films
11:10-12:10 (Paseo Room):
Showcase of KC Area Artist-Social Entrepreneurs
Session Description: Kansas City is home to a growing community of artists whose work bridges creative practice and social impact. This session features KC-based artist-social entrepreneurs working in visual art, new media, and community-based music education. Panelists will discuss how artistic practice can serve broader community goals, from grassroots organizing to building sustainable, mission-driven organizations. The conversation will focus on practical approaches to integrating art and entrepreneurship in ways that support community development and social impact.
Moderator:
- Andrew Heise, Managing Director, Arts Entrepreneurship, Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, UMKC Bloch School of Management
Panelists:
- Evan Maddox, New Media Artist and Organizer
- Chico Sierra, Visual Artist
- Clint Velazquez, Founder/Executive Director, Base Academy of Music
Track 3: Effects of AI on Civic and Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship
10:00-11:00 (Brush Creek Room):
Effects of AI on Nonprofit Organizations
Session Description: The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence presents nonprofits with new opportunities to transform their operations and enhance impact, yet it also raises important concerns about ethical use, risk management, and governance. This panel will share takeaways from a series of workshops held by KC Digital Drive exploring how local nonprofits are using generative AI technologies and developing internal policies for responsible AI implementation. The presentation will be followed by a discussion with representatives from local community organizations who will share their experiences implementing AI solutions and their approaches to addressing ethical considerations, risks, and internal policy development.
Moderator:
- Willliam Crumpler, Program Analyst, KC Digital Drive
Panelists:
- Marcus Flores, Executive Director, Parkville Living Center
- Maiwand Momand, Digital Navigator, Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas
- Pam Rooks, Digital Navigation Coordinator, Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas
11:10-12:10 (Brush Creek Room):
Effects of AI on State & Local Government
Session Description: Artificial Intelligence, including rapidly evolving “Generative AI,” are impacting all sectors of society. This session features a panel with extensive experiences in or with state and local government initiatives on interactions with emerging technologies generally and with data governance and AI in particular. In this session, they will share information and perspectives on both uses of AI by government in providing public services and in developing policies to regulate private sector uses of AI in their jurisdictions, and encourage attendees to participate in discussions of both managing potential risks of AI deployments and pursuing opportunities to utilize AI to produce public benefits.
Moderator:
- Tony Luppino, Professor, UMKC School of Law
Panelists:
- Kate Burns, Executive Directors of MetroLab Network
- Abigail Eccher, Chief Information Security & Privacy Officer, State of Nebraska
- Amanda Graor, Director of Data and Digital Services, Mid-America Regional Council
- Adrienne Haynes, Chair of Emerging Technology Board, City of Kansas City, MO
12:10-1:10PM: Lunch and Networking Opportunities (Town Square Room)
1:20-3:30PM: Afternoon Breakout Sessions (in three Breakout Rooms):
Track 1: Capital Investment in Social Enterprises
1:20-2:20 (Troost Room):
Current Pathways to Accessing Capital for Social Enterprises
Session Description: When trying to attract capital to their enterprise, social entrepreneurs generally work across two different types of sources, each with generally two additional subsets within them. The first category consists of government/public sources and private sources. Within each of these – and, thus, the second/subset category – are those who, to varying degrees, pay attention to the social good that a business is pursuing and those that do not. How you structure and operate your business matters, whether using the rarely used still relatively new hybrid legal structures, modified versions of those or traditional forms (including nonprofit but not tax exempt!), or tandem (i.e., subsidiaries, affiliates, joint ventures). We’ll cover each of these with a focus on how various concepts are used to modify structures towards socially good ends. We’ll also discuss the state of cases and executive orders involving funding sources that are public (e.g., Small Business Administration § 8(a), Minority Business Development Agency, Community Development Funding Institutions) and private (e.g., Program Related Investments, including “impact” investors and grants/contracts).
Panelists:
- Cassady Brewer, Shareholder, Carlton Fields, Emeritus Professor, Georgia State University College of Law
- John Tyler, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, EMKF
2:30-3:30PM (Troost Room):
Exit Through the Breakroom: How Wall Street Can Help Mainstreet through Employee-Ownership
Session Description: Identifying sources of mission-aligned capital is a persistent issue for social entrepreneurs. Foundations, impact investors, banks, friends, and family are not always reliable sources. However, social entrepreneurs often overlook an already committed source of capital, their employees. Employees-ownership is often thought of as a one-way benefit for the employees, which it is, but it can also be a source of patient capital with intimate working knowledge of the company’s operations and strategic objectives. However, there are barriers to bringing in employees as investors, owners, and partners. The major barrier is financing the investment as employees rarely have the cash on hand to pay for their interest in the company. This session explores the financial viability and legal feasibility of a novel investment fund that would specifically focus on transitioning closely held businesses into employee ownership.
Panelists:
- Evan Absher, Assistant Clinical Professor, UMKC School of Law
- Nathan Mauck, Professor of Finance, UMKC Bloch School of Management
Track 2: Arts as Vehicles for Social Entrepreneurship
1:20-2:20 (Paseo Room):
Gaming/Gamification with Social Purposes
Session Description: This session will provide background on the long history of gaming and gamification in society and then focus on current applications of gaming and digital storytelling as engines of social entrepreneurship in the Digital Age. The panelists will share perspectives, experiences, and illustrative examples on such subjects as the design and creation of virtual learning and doing environments, game-based educational and support systems, game-based collaborative storytelling, and gamification to facilitate community-based collaborations.
Moderator:
- Andrew Bergerson, Professor of History, UMKC School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Panelists:
- Joe Griffin, Founder Director, Adroit Studios at UM-Columbia
- Horace Peterson, Creative Director, Legendary Phoenix Enterprises LLC
- William Wells, Executive Director, aSTEAM Village
2:30-3:30 (Paseo Room):
Supporting the Work of Artist-Social Entrepreneurs: Resources & Networks
Session Description: Learn about resources and networks to support artists and arts organizations with their entrepreneurial needs. This panel will feature local art helping organizations that have opportunities available for artists and arts organizations to receive assistance.
Moderator:
- Danielle Merrick, Clinical Professor, UMKC School of Law, and Executive Director of Kansas City Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts
Panelists:
- Anna Fiorella, Senior Manager of Business Engagement, ArtsKC
- Kimi Kitada, Gallery and Programs Manager, Charlotte Street
- Diane R. Scott, Director of Artist Services, Mid-America Arts Alliance
Track 3: Effects of AI on Civic and Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship
1:20-2:20 (Brush Creek Room):
Effects of AI on Education
Session Description: Generative AI is rapidly transforming both teaching and learning in higher education. For educators, generative AI provides efficiencies in course planning and communication, preparation of learning materials and activities, and even evaluation of student work product. Likewise, for students, generative AI can be a powerful learning coach and study partner. However, reliance on the tool can lead to degradation of critical thinking and communication skills. This panel will explore how educators can help their students thread this needle.
Moderator:
- Barbara Glesner Fines, Professor and Dean Emerita, UMKC School of Law
Panelists:
- Shannon Jackson, Professor of Anthropology, UMKC School of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Rob Nelson, Educator and Writer
2:30-3:30 (Brush Creek Room):
Recent Developments on AI Legislation/Proposed Legislation
Session Description: Deployments of new technologies and new combinations of pre-existing technologies present formidable challenges to legislatures responsible for developing laws that both serve and protect the public. The challenges associated with the rapidly accelerating development of new AI and Generative AI capabilities are particularly complex and potentially impactful across all sectors of society. The panelists in this session will explore several examples of federal and state legislative activity in the U.S., and in other countries regarding AI/GenAI and invite the audience to share their reactions to those examples and their perspectives on the policy considerations that should shape AI legislation.
Moderator:
- Susan Opp, Professor of Public Affairs, UMKC Bloch School of Management
Panelists:
- Ayyoub Ajmi, Director of Legal Innovation & Technology, UMKC School of Law
- Kris Hartley, Assistant Professor, School of Sustainability, Arizona State University
- Lindsey Jarrett, Vice President, Ethical AI Services-Center for Practical Bioethics
- Nicole Santiago, Research Manager at Trilateral Research
- David Young, Chief Financial Officer, Nebraska Investment Finance Authority
We are committed to making the Symposium affordable. To request a financial need-based registration fee waiver or discount please send an email to
Questions? Email Tony Luppino or call 816.235.6165.
