2019 Leadership Cape participants present ideas for projects

An international cultural festival, a downtown ambassador program and an electric scooter ride-sharing service were three of the ideas presented Friday morning at the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce’s First Friday Coffee.

The ideas were developed by participants in the 2019 Leadership Cape program and were designed to make Cape Girardeau more welcoming and more prosperous as well as a better place to live overall.

“I could see any of these projects happening,” said chamber vice president Kim Voelker, who coordinates the Leadership Cape program.

Now in its 30th year, Leadership Cape is a chamber program designed to help local professionals build leadership skills and discover what Cape Girardeau has to offer. The program culminates each year with project presentations designed to give participants experience working in groups of people from all types of backgrounds and personalities.

The following is a summary of this year’s Leadership Cape project presentations:

Cape Cultural Festival

This one-day festival in downtown Cape Girardeau would feature a parade, 20 food booths offering a variety of ethnic food and beverages from around the world, a global bazaar with arts and crafts from various countries, hands-on activities for adults and children, music, dancing and demonstrations.

The goal of the festival would be to promote cultural understanding and awareness among people representing various nationalities in Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area.

Cape Downtown Ambassadors

Modeled after similar programs in places such as Kansas City, Missouri; Franklin, Tennessee; and Paducah, Kentucky, the Downtown Ambassadors would serve as liaisons between the downtown business district and visitors to the community. Armed with information about the community, ambassadors would be available to greet riverboat passengers and provide tourist information to visitors at various events and activities in the downtown area such as the Riverfront Market and Tunes at Twilight.

Ambassadors would also provide extra sets of eyes for the Cape Girardeau Police Department to help make the downtown area safe and welcoming.

ShopCape

The ShopCape team proposed an online shopping resource for unique Cape Girardeau products. A www.ShopCape.com website, funded by participating retailers and service providers in the Cape Girardeau area, would serve as an online shopping platform for products and services offered by local merchants, thereby marketing local goods to a worldwide audience.

ShopCape would also augment existing marketing efforts of the participating businesses, which could take advantage of ShopCape’s marketing consulting and online tracking services.

Town Central

Reminiscent of Cape Girardeau’s “Teen Town” several generations ago, Town Central would be a “main hub” for area youth and not-for-profit organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Boys and Girls Club, One City, Scouts and other organizations that work with youth. Town Central would be a safe place for youth to gather for events, tutoring and other activities.

As for where Town Central would be located, the Leadership Cape group proposing the project said it would be “where the kids are.”

Scootin’ Around Cape

This project would provide public scooter ride sharing in the community. Electric scooters could be rented through a smartphone app, providing an affordable and easy way to get from point A to point B in certain areas of Cape Girardeau.

Scooters could be reserved and picked up at various locations and dropped off at or near a renter’s destination and would be easy to drive and park. They would also be economically and environmentally friendly.

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