Go Cultivate!

Season 3 Wrap Up — with Kevin Shepherd

We’ve reached the end of Go Cultivate! Season 3! To wrap us up, Kevin details the impacts that the suburban experiment has had on our country and asks the question: what does ‘quality of life’ really mean, and does an auto-centric lifestyle support these outcomes? After defining actionable steps to take in order to address the challenges posed by the suburban development pattern, Kevin emphasizes the importance of finding and connecting with other people and groups in your area to drive meaningful change at the local level. We believe that by working together, we can create more vibrant and inclusive communities that are built to last and benefit everyone. Stay updated with our newsletter!

Meet the Verdooners — with Matt Meals

In this episode we are sitting down with Matt Meals, the newest addition to Verdunity’s engineering team. He and Kevin discuss Matt’s journey to Verdunity, and his perspective on how land use fiscal analysis gives cities the education they need to plan for communities to take root, as well as how it empowers citizens to take active roles in shaping the future of their communities. Throughout the interview, Matthew emphasizes the importance of context and community in engineering and design, and shares how his passion for environmentalism and sustainable energy led him to where he is today. Matt Recommends:Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert Putnam

Leadership and Inclusive Prosperity — with Dr. Kaye Monk-Morgan and Shaun Rojas

In this episode, AJ interviews Dr. Kaye Monk-Morgan and Shaun Rojas of the Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) where Kaye is the President and CEO, and Shaun is the Senior Director of Civic Engagement. Their discussion emphasizes the importance of building a culture of civic leadership and engaging with community members to address their concerns and build stronger, healthier, and more prosperous communities. The conversation also touches on the idea that leadership is an activity rather than a title or position, and the need to develop skills and engage in activities that promote leadership. Kaye Monk-Morgan, KLC President and CEOA third-generation Kansan, Dr. Kaye Monk-Morgan is the president and CEO of the Kansas Leadership Center (KLC), an internationally recognized center of excellence for leadership development and civic engagement. She previously served as the inaugural chief impact officer. Her work fosters civic leadership for stronger, healthier, and more prosperous communities in Kansas and beyond. Service and education have been hallmarks of Monk-Morgan’s personal and professional story for decades. Prior to her time at the KLC, Monk-Morgan dedicated her talents to higher education. Over 30 years, she served in roles ranging from residence hall director to Assistant Dean of Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and ultimately the Vice President for Strategic Engagement and Planning at Wichita State University. Her areas of responsibility varied over the years and included community and economic development, strategic planning, assessment and accreditation, and coordination of WSU’s First-Generation student services. Her longest appointment was as director of the TRIO Upward Bound Math Science program. An active community servant, Monk-Morgan has served on non-profit and corporate boards at the local, state, regional and national levels. She currently serves as a board member for: NXTUS, a non-profit that catalyzes startup ecosystems, The African American Museum of Kansas; and Emprise Bank. She is a trustee for the Wichita Land Bank; and advisor to the Ulrich Museum at Wichita State University.Shaun Rojas, Senior Director of Civic EngagementAs Senior Director of Civic Engagement at the Kansas Leadership Center, Shaun oversees the organization’s Civic Engagement Initiative tasked to equip Kansans in public life to build civic trust on the most pressing issues. Shaun works with the Civic Engagement Team to develop Tresources for those in elected and appointed office and partners with organizations who are facing a civic challenge. Starting at KLC as an intern in 2008, Shaun has been around the KLC block. Over the years, he has done everything from help support community leadership programs across the state to help Kansans have better conversations on divisive issues. Shaun’s dedication to help communities engage in better civic dialogue goes well beyond his role at KLC. He is the founder of the Young Latino Professionals of Wichita – which helps raise the profile and equip young professionals with leadership skills – and was a previous board member for the Association of Leadership Programs. In 2014, Shaun was named as Young Professional of Year for Wichita Urban Professionals. In 2016, he was named to the City of Wichita’s Citizen Review Board by the City Manager. Shaun also serves on the District Six Advisory Board for the City of Wichita. Press Coverage:Local Entreprenuership Pilot Programhttps://kansasleadershipcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Kauffman-Grant-Communities_FINAL.pdfHeartland Together Partnershiphttps://kansasleadershipcenter.org/kansas-leadership-center-launches-multi-state-listening-tour/ Resources:Kansas Leadership Center (KLC)https://kansasleadershipcenter.org/KLC’s Civic Missionhttps://youtu.be/jcMEWtUXVPgHeartland Together Projecthttps://kansasleadershipcenter.org/heartland-together/ Mentioned in this Episode:Create Campaign, Inc.https://www.createcampaignks.com/about-usThe Journal: A Civic Issues Magazinehttps://klcjournal.com/When Everyone Leads, by Ed O’Malley and Julia Fabris McBridehttps://kansasleadershipcenter.org/when-everyone-leads/Network Kansashttps://www.networkkansas.com/Center on Rural Innovationhttps://ruralinnovation.us/Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundationhttps://www.kauffman.org/

Meet the Verdooners — with Maddie Bonney

Time to roll out some new Meet the Verdooners episodes to introduce y'all to the newest members of our team! In this episode, Kevin sits down with Maddie Bonney, our new Planner, and they discuss her personal motivations for pursuing a career in planning, including her desire to improve quality of life and promote self-sustaining economic development. She explains how her values align with Verdunity's focus on fiscal health and local wealth, and they discuss the relationship between the design of our neighborhoods and the mental health of the people living there.  

Plangineer to Storyteller — with Andy Boenau

Moving communities beyond status quo is hard. Entrenched practices in zoning, transportation planning, and road design have created places that are unsafe, unhealthy, and inequitable for many, while others who have benefitted from these systems staunchly defend them. In this episode, “Plangineers” Andy Boenau and Kevin Shepherd discuss how their careers evolved from engineering to planning to advocates for change in their respective roles today. They discuss why radical changes to traditional planning and engineering approaches are needed in order to create more inclusive, sustainable, and thriving places. Andy explains the benefits of using storytelling to communicate and simplify concepts to inspire change, as well as how to use online platforms and targeted posts on social media to communicate and test ideas. If you're searching for language and tools to nudge your community forward, Andy is an excellent resource.Andy Boenau is a storyteller disguised as an urban planner that wants to help create happy, healthy communities where we can safely ride bikes at night in dark clothes. He is a filmmaker, photographer, writer, and podcaster. Andy is the founder of Speakeasy Media LLC where he teaches people how to create memorable stories and is the producer of the podcast, How We Get Around. He's also the author of the Substack blog Urbanism Speakeasy where he shares simple truths about city planning & transportation to help you promote healthy infrastructure. Boenau has won awards for three short films, a podcast, and one of his books. His contributions to the design industry have also been acknowledged by Engineering News-Record (Top 20 Under 40, 2016) and Style Weekly (Top 40 Under 40, 2016). Andy is currently working on an upcoming documentary called White Collar Epidemic: Infrastructure is Crumbling our Minds and Bodies.https://www.andyboenau.comhttps://speakeasy.substack.com/https://twitter.com/Boenauhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/boenau/https://seedandspark.com/fund/white-collar-epidemic#story