Iconic cities are not born, they are made. It was never a sure thing that New York would become more influential than Philadelphia or that San Francisco would birth more startups than anywhere in the world. Rather, the cities that become great at something do so because of very deliberate action taken by residents and governments. While San Francisco is hard to beat at its startup prowess, cities all over the country are rushing to become the next ‘hub’ for something. Cleveland is aspiring to become the bioscience capital of the world, the northwest wants to rule on green energy, and Boston wants to rock it on med tech.

Success at becoming a ‘hub’ is never a sure thing, but it is a sure thing that a city will stay a nobody unless it figures out what it should be known for and gets about the business of making that happen. In Kansas City, the residents have learned a thing or two about moving a city from an afterthought to a national leader on social entrepreneurship. The model they pursued is one that many cities could implement. Here are the five keys that Kansas City pursued to transform itself into a hub for social entrepreneurship:

Capitalize on the strengths of area universities

The University of Missouri at Kansas City has been a national leader in social entrepreneurship since long before the city devoted itself to this cause. Thus, it became a natural asset as the city aligned itself with becoming a social entrepreneur’s hub. For example, the University now offers a competition for social ventures in town and also hosts a national conference on social entrepreneurship. Most importantly, the university has strong connections to local businesses, offering tremendous opportunities to its social entrepreneur graduates. Read more.