When things got crazy in the early days of the pandemic, we started doing daily video calls with school leaders. While convening the education community has always been a core principle for us, we knew we needed to get in the trenches on a daily basis given the gravity of the situation that was unfolding.

The goal? To help them figure things out and plan. We pressed pause on our playbook and focused on core needs.

Over the last 8 months, we’ve listened directly to our region’s schools and families, and our nation’s education innovators. As always, we’ve held steadfast to the belief that those closest to education-- parents, students, teachers--are the experts.

True to our core values of human-centered design and boldness, we leaned in to understand their insights to provide direct support when our communities needed it most.

Even though it was a different direction for us, we prioritized basic needs and then we looked ahead at traditional school matters. While we’re not a direct service organization, we knew we had to pivot. We did it the LEANLAB way:

We used research and data.

We served as a convener for our community schools.

We looked to the greatest needs to drive our actions.

Those early calls helped us understand the dynamic needs coming up for schools. Those calls moved us toward the connectivity work for which we might not have otherwise seen the need.

We knew our community was counting on us to shift resources and reconfigure priorities so that’s what we did. It wasn’t perfect. It was messy. We didn’t get everything right.

But we listened. We responded. We took in the data and acted on it--arm-in-arm with our partners.

As a result, thousands of Kansas City kids got connected to the internet and were able to access educational services.

I’m someone whose entire career depends on the ability to connect and communicate. I know first-hand how crucial those skills are for our kids’ future success. I’m honored we could deliver on that promise this year.

Sincerely,