CAPS Network Wins Global Prestige for Learning Program

• For this year’s selection, a shortlist of innovations was reviewed by 188 different educators, innovators, funders, leaders and students from 113 countries.
• HundrED, a Finland-based nonprofit, tapped 100 organization’s for this year’s list from a total of 3,488 entries.
• Each organization was assessed based on both its impact and ability to scale their approach.

Key quote: “Just to be a part of it was humbling,” CAPS Network executive director Corey Mohn said. “Knowing that [HundrED] is not only saying that we are making an impact, but that [CAPS] is scalable and can continue to grow in multiple different places and cultures, and that it all started here in Kansas City, specifically in Blue Valley, that is incredible.”

Backstory: CAPS aims to give students a head start in gaining hands-on experience in professional fields, like engineering, filmmaking and culinary arts.

• The program allows students to get assessed by industry standards and mentored by real-world professionals.
• “It allows students to have that self discovery journey before they leave high school and go off to college or jump into the workforce, giving them a much better chance to step into something that is meaningful to them,” Mohn said.

Zooming out: What started as a small program in 2009 for a few dozen Blue Valley students doing internships and projects for Kansas City-area businesses, has now grown into an organization used by about 140 school districts in 20 states and three countries.

• A few years ago, the Blue Valley school board authorized CAPS to become a 501(c)(3), a tax-exempt nonprofit, in order to continue to grow the organization without taking resources away from the school district.

What this recognition means for CAPS

Since making this year’s HundrED Global Collection, Mohn said a wide range of opportunities have begun opening up for the organization.

• “We’ve got a call tomorrow with an entrepreneur in Kenya that we met as part of the HundrED gathering,” he said. “He’s very curious about what we’re up to and what it would mean to work with some of the communities that he works with.”
• Mohn said other meetings to discuss CAPS involvement in a variety of countries, such as Qatar, Finland and Saudi Arabia, are also in the works.