GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY

Innovate Lynchburg is made up of businesses that are focused on giving back.  A project came to our board just recently from the Jubilee Family Center to help with their website.

Jubilee was founded in 1999 in response to the community’s overwhelming need for a program that would target at-risk youth and offer them programs and services to help develop their academic and social skills. Every day Jubilee programs and volunteers are leading young people into futures filled with hopes and goals. They are loved, tutored, mentored, challenged, and motivated as they strive to overcome many obstacles. Jubilee’s presence in the community has made a remarkable difference as it supports and teaches families to become self-sufficient, reliable, and successful.

To further their message, Innovate Lynchburg Board Member reached out this past week to see if we could foster some help for this project.  CTA Consultants, a local technology company focused on the public safety sector, stepped up to the plate to support this need and has providing staffing to help with this endeavor.

STEM CENTER PROJECT

Jubilee’s new STEM Center is located next door to Jubilee’s main building on Florida Avenue in a building that Jubilee already owns. The STEM Center will offer programs for youth in robotics, e-sports, graphics, educational games, coding, and foreign languages. For youth, Jubilee’s STEM Center programming will provide a solid foundation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) principles and generate greater interest in high-demand science and technology-based career fields.

The STEM Center will also offer programs for adults in welding, machining, computer networking, building trades, Certified Nursing Assistant, commercial driver’s license, and HVAC fundamentals. For adults, the STEM Center will build upon the hands-on training opportunities currently available through Jubilee’s Bev Cosby Occupational Outreach Center, with additions such as a computer graphics lab and opportunities to learn skills and trades that will move unemployed or underemployed adults toward permanent employment through the provision of hands-on workshops, learning labs, and soft skills training. The STEM Center will also help facilitate internships and career shadowing opportunities for adults, offering them exposure to high-demand technology and engineering-based career fields and the potential to secure future employment. The STEM Center will guide program participants through academic enrichment, career planning, and job training programs that will enable them to enter the skilled labor workforce, increasing their income and helping stabilize their families.