SIFE Team Gives KC Commuters Greener Options

Release Date: Mar 04, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cary Clark, 816-235-6568
clarkcary@umkc.edu

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The UMKC SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) Team has developed a tool to give commuters and drivers greener options.

KCRideLink is a free online resource to help people find information on alternative transportation in the metro area. It includes information on carpools, rideshare programs, busses/cabs, and other sources of transportation. 

Among the tools on KCRideLink is a tutorial on how to effectively use Google Maps to plan a commute, even when using public transportation.     

According to Cary Clark, Sam Walton Fellow at the UMKC Bloch School’s Innovation Center and SIFE team advisor, “The UMKC SIFE Team has been active again this year and has qualified to compete against 58 other universities in the SIFE Regional Competitions. A new competitive category this year involves Environmental Sustainability. The KCRideLink project was developed by the UMKC SIFE team around this theme.”    

The KCRideLink website was created with the support of the UMKC Bloch School of Business and Public Administration and the Mid America Regional Council (MARC).  The branding was supported by KCSourceLink, a program of the UMKC Bloch School’s Innovation Center.      

Several community organizations have offered to support the program and are working on featuring the link on their Web sites, including the County of Jackson, MARC and The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. “This is a wonderful acknowledgement of the value of UMKC SIFE projects in the community,” notes Clark.    

More information about KCRideLink is available at www.kcridelink.com.

The Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) is Kansas City’s only institution fully-accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB) and the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). The Bloch School is home to nationally renowned faculty and research centers as well as cutting-edge curricula in entrepreneurship, financial services, leadership, accounting, and public administration. The Bloch School offers degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, Executive MBA, and PhD levels.

SIFE is a global non-profit organization active in more than 40 countries and funded by financial contributions from corporations, entrepreneurs, foundations, government agencies and individuals. Working in partnership with business and higher education, SIFE establishes student teams on university campuses that are led by faculty advisors and challenged to develop community outreach projects.