Discussion of Greater Mankato Growth Inter-City Leadership Visit (ICLV)

Discussion on Attendees

Greater Mankato Growth is organizing another Inter-City Leadership Visit (ICLV) for November 5-7, 2025 to Wichita, Kansas. In the past, the City has sent attendees from the Council and/or Staff. The plans for the trip are still being finalized. Some of the concepts for the trip include:

Objectives:

• Understand what Wichita's economic development journey has been.
• Understand how Wichita's two major post-secondary institutions align their degree fields with the jobs in their market.
• Understand how the talent roadmap was developed and how it is measured.
• Understand how they developed, have utilized, and have modified their regional growth plan.
• Create intentional networking between Greater Mankato Delegation and business and community leaders in Wichita who are in the same sector.
• Develop a schedule of intercity peer-to-peer meetings after the trip (i.e., local healthcare with healthcare in Wichita, nonprofit in Greater Mankato with nonprofit in Wichita, etc.).
• Learn two to three things that allow them to compete with Manhattan and Kansas City.

Wins:

• At least one new tangible initiative that supports the goals of Transforming Tomorrow Together.
• One idea gleaned from the post-secondary relationship with industry that we can implement.
• One idea gleaned from the secondary relationship with industry that we can implement.
• 100% of participants stated that they better understood the local challenges that Greater Mankato is facing (as a result of the networking between attendees).
• 100% of participants stated that they connected with someone they didn't know before they went on the trip.
• Greater Mankato creates a tracking methodology for the intangibles of the Transforming Tomorrow Together plan.

Staff are interested in a discussion about whom the Council would like to attend.