By Ryan Duey

A first-of-its-kind commitment from K-State Research and Extension and Kansas 4-H will fully fund the Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge, or KEC, which is a program of the NetWork Kansas Entrepreneurship Community Partnership. The contribution involves nearly $100,000 in program support for KEC per year for three consecutive years, beginning this year.

The KEC is a sequence of community-based entrepreneurship competitions for students in grades 6-12, known as the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, or YEC, series.

NetWork Kansas, a statewide entrepreneurial organization, coordinates the YEC series and KEC in partnership with the Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship in the K-State College of Business Administration.

For K-State Research and Extension, the collaboration represents an opportunity to extend another proven program to build vital communities across the state. The strengthened partnership with NetWork Kansas creates a pathway for future work.