January's theme: Schools Need a Communication Upgrade: Breaking Down Silos in Communication between Schools, Parents, and Community

FEATURING KEY SPEAKERS*:

• Laura Gilchrist: Instructional Coach Turner HS | KCedu | ElevateEDU | KSDE Education Fellows | MOTOY finalist '14. Mission: connect education & city to elevate youth.
• Nicole Collier-White: Community Partners and Engagement Services Coordinator at KCPS | Certified Nonprofit Professional. Mission: engage the community to bring opportunities to students in the Kansas City Public School district.
• Justin Robinson: TV Coordinator at KCPS.
• Casey Lamb: Chief Operations & Development Officer at Schools That Can. Mission: Dismantle silos between schools. She's a yogi / volleyballer / runner / Tia / connector / Lover-of-most-things-NYC.

*More guest speakers to be announced soon!*

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-- 5:30-6:00 Sign In, Food and Drink, Networking/Happy Hour!

-- 6:00-7:00 Edcamp/Unconference format. TALK TIME!

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Join #KCedu and the Lean Lab at EduHub, a co-working space for education and youth-related startups. Network with genius educators, business partners, and other interested folks as you eat and drink, learn and collide!

When you arrive, grab a snack and check out the whiteboard where participants create the schedule on the fly! Want to share something? Want to get feedback from others on a topic? In addition to the featured guests, as an attendee, you can throw your idea up in one of the squares for small group breakout conversations. For example:

• Want to talk about technology in education, apps, gamificatoin or how to make it relevant to kids?
• Want to talk family-community engagement in schools and in KC?
• Want to plan a city-wide project to bring KC together, led by kids?
• Looking for some interested parties to co-write a grant? EdHub has several offices for us to spread out and share/discuss.

After introductions of any featured guests at 6pm, we go into an Edcamp/Unconference format in two fast-paced, 20 minute breakout sessions. Stay in one group or sample more than one discussion. We come back together as a group at 7:00 for final announcements and then continue conversations at EduHub or at a nearby establishment.

This format is about active small group networking and relationship building, not passive listening. CHOICE and VOICE! You'll be happy you plugged into KC's vibrant educator network.

About the organizations involved:

• The Lean Lab is a community of educators, entrepreneurs and innovators who are growing, testing, and launching ideas to build the future of Kansas City education. Their fourth iteration of The Incubator Fellowship (an accelerator program that supports entrepreneurs to launch) begins Fall 2017. Stay up to date with all that they do in KC, and sign up for their newsletter here.
• KCedu is a group of educators who know the importance of face to face collisions between educators and city/community friends! KCedu has hosted meetups for over two years, first at Kauffman Foundation and now at EduHub. We're excited to work with The Lean Lab and all the EduHub education organizations to make our meetups impact more educators and ultimately more kids!
• ElevateEDU is the vibrant, organic, and regional educator network centered around 3 pillars: collide, equip, and transform! Stay informed on local education events by subscribing to their Facebook Page.

If you have an announcement, please let one of the organizers know by responding to this invitation, by contacting us on Facebook, Twitter, or by mentioning it in person before the meeting begins. We try to end the announcements by 6:15. If we are short on time, you can also write notes on the whiteboard to the left of the signup area.

LOCATION:

We're networking at EDUHUB, in Westport, behind McCoy's and across the street from Kelly's and the Tivoli Theater. EduHub is on the third floor (Suite 301).

See views of Westport from the windows!

FREE Parking in the Manor Square parking garage or on the street.

Tips for finding the parking garage: Turn onto Pennsylvania Ave between Kelly's and McCoy's Public House. Go past EduHub (on your right) and look on your left. As soon as you pass a putt-putt golf green you'll see a driveway to the parking garage!! If you miss it, you can drive around Westport Coffeehouse, turn left again, going through the grocery store lot, and you'll see the Mill Street entrance next to Golds Gym. If you enter from the Gold Gym side, look for doors to Tivoli Theater from the parking garage. You can walk out onto Pennsylvania and the building will be right across the street.