July 28, 2023

Maleah Grigbsy had just turned 16 – and a move to Sioux Falls from Kansas City wasn’t at the top of her list.

“I was dreading moving to Sioux Falls,” she said. “It was right at the height of COVID, and it was weird starting over.”

The move turned out to be so positive, though, that this fall she made the choice to live in Sioux Falls herself, attending Augustana University, where she plans to study sociology and communications.

“Augustana ended up being my best option, so I could plug back into the community of Sioux Falls,” she said. “I felt like my time wasn’t quite done in Sioux Falls.”

Instead, she’s now putting her own stamp on the city. Grigsby is bringing the Smart City Women’s Congress to Sioux Falls. It’s designed as a group that will meet monthly, starting with an information meeting Sept. 9 and continuing through May.

Each year, there will be a new session, and the program will be open to however many women want to participate. So far, those signed up or showing interest have been 30 and younger, including high school students, Grigsby said.

“This will be a group designed for women of younger generations to gather and learn about their city, find real concerns of their generation and create achievable solutions,” she said.

“This is for any females in Sioux Falls who have a passion for learning about their community, figuring out civic issues they’re dealing with or seeing peers deal with and wanting to come up with solutions using the resources already available in Sioux Falls.”

Smart City Women’s Congress has corporate support from Think 3D as well as a tech company in Texas, Grigbsy said.

She said she was hoping 10 women might be interested; so far, it’s more than quadruple that.

“I’ve had amazing feedback from it,” Grigbsy said.

To learn more about the Smart City Women’s Congress, click here.