Momentum 22: A Business Professional's Perspective
Keith Warta, president of Bartlett & West, has served as a tri-chair of Momentum 2022 since the initiative’s inception in 2016.
Warta’s impetus for involvement stemmed from the county assessment finding that only 10 percent of people surveyed thought their children would remain in the community as adults.
“It just floored me,” said Warta. “I think commitment to family and having grandparents around as a support structure for kids growing up is so important. That 10 percent figure continues to motivate me because I have children that I want to see be part of our community and I know others feel the same about their kids too.”
From a business perspective, Warta said Bartlett & West’s mission to “lead communities to a better tomorrow” aligns well with Shawnee County’s transformation strategy.
“Our company is committed to creating vibrant and attractive places and infrastructure that adds to quality of life,” he said. “The work I do for the company and the work I do for Momentum 2022 are near and dear to my heart.”
Warta said his company, along with many others, is competing to attract technical resources “from a pool in the Midwest that’s not large.”
He credits the “liveliness” of Forge activities to engage young professionals and enhanced amenities downtown as assets in the company’s recruitment and retention efforts.
“There’s a new attitude about Topeka now,” Warta said. “We can take candidates downtown on a Wednesday night and show them vibrant restaurants and people enjoying themselves. It’s made such a difference.”
Of the many things Momentum 2022 has accomplished in five years, Warta’s top three accomplishments include facilitating a shift in attitude, establishing the Greater Topeka Partnership and reducing poverty.
“This is a much more positive community than when I arrived 35 years ago with an engineering degree from Kansas State University,” Warta said. “Just a few years ago, the county assessment headlines indicated that most people were not likely to recommend our city to others. Now, there’s so much positivity. Our net promoter score moved up more than 40 percent from 2017 to 2019.”
The Greater Topeka Partnership was created as an umbrella organization to integrate economic development and community enhancement initiatives.
“The process was fragmented before with the efforts of Downtown Topeka Inc., the Chamber and GO Topeka often overlapping one another,” he said. “Now there’s more coordinated funding and consistent messaging, an accomplishment that can’t be undervalued.”
Warta said the county’s poverty rate has dropped 44 percent over a 10-year period. Although progress in this area was already being made before Momentum 2022, Warta said the initiative has had “a huge impact” on reducing generational poverty and enhancing economic opportunities for more people.
A complementary component that will be given further attention in the next five-year plan is housingacross the spectrum of price ranges and neighborhood locations.
“The value statement we’re centered on with Momentum 2022 is access to opportunity for everyone,” said Warta. “When you have a public value statement like that, it’s important to have different voices participating in the process to reach all segments of the county.”
Warta said an East Topeka council has been established to ensure issues related to infrastructure, housing, technical education and other needs are top of mind.
Although the pandemic slowed progress in some areas of the comprehensive plan, such as additional downtown development and cradle to career initiatives, Warta said leaders learned valuable lessons about racial justice during 2020.
“As a result, we’ve put more emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion,” he said. “Glenda Washington’s position as chief equity and opportunity officer at the Greater Topeka Partnership will be really important to facilitating discussions.”
Warta is optimistic about the next stage of the strategic plan and heartened by the ways in which people in Topeka and Shawnee County now talk about the area. “It’s such a different ballgame than when I arrived in Topeka,” he said.
“It’s just so powerful to have the business community, elected officials and organizations like the Greater Topeka Partnership and the Topeka Community Foundation all working in the same direction. The stars are aligned now to continue making changes.
