A public-private partnership is establishing technology centers for teens in under-resourced communities across Los Angeles County.
These centers aim to attract older students by offering programs in a wide range of fields, from esports and fashion design to film and audio production. Each location also coordinates career programs such as internships and innovation competitions to help improve post-secondary outcomes.
This network of teen tech centers, called Community Impact Hubs, is the result of a partnership between the Best Buy Foundation, the Annenberg Foundation, and the Greater Los Angeles Education Foundation (GLAEF), the philanthropic arm of the Los Angeles County Department of Education.
The partners have opened six Best Buy Teen Tech Centers in LA County since 2021, with six more under construction. Two are scheduled to open this winter, two are in pre-construction and one is in the final stages of planning. All 12 Teen Tech Centers are scheduled to open by 2026, said Sam Gelinas, GLAEF’s vice president of programs, strategy and development.
“These are dedicated spaces for older middle school and high school students to go and learn,” Gelinas said. “It’s about finding some of the transferable skills and making them accessible to all kinds of kids and kids coming from these areas.”
Each center offers more traditional forms of technology training, such as learning to code, but with an emphasis on creative technology types that lead to jobs in entertainment, fashion, and other LA-focused industries. I am.
“Students can record songs, create music videos, design album art and have it manufactured, produced and published all through the Tech Center,” he said. “A lot of it is hooks to get kids excited and interested in it.”
Once interested, Gelinas said, kids tend to come back and attend programs at other centers, which usually focus on career exploration and preparation. For example, in addition to internships and mentorships, the Tech Center also runs an entrepreneurship program called the Young Innovators Accelerator Pitch Competition.
Gelinas said the centers partner with industry organizations such as the Grammy Foundation and local production companies to provide professional learning and networking opportunities for teens. Each center has at least one full-time staff member and provides middle and high school students with a positive place to hang out after school.
“For a variety of reasons, it’s easier to enroll young children in aftercare programs outside of school hours,” Gelinas says. “Part of the goal here is to re-engage our upperclassmen in a way that feels a little more dynamic, valuable and usable and connects them to post-secondary opportunities.”
Gelinas said each center has access to the same equipment and programs, but each center has its own twist on student engagement strategies. For example, the Best Buy Teen Tech Center at the Vermont Slauson Economic Development Center focuses on fashion technology, while the East LA Center focuses on technology for environmental justice.
“So they’ve been doing podcasts about shady deserts, not having trees in really hot areas, and how that affects people,” Gelinas said. neighborhood. ”
The centers are operated by community-based organizations such as Boys & Girls Clubs and YMCAs and serve about 30 teens a day, Gelinas said. The newest one, which opened last month, was built within the Carmelitos housing project in Long Beach. Another facility scheduled to open by 2026 will be at the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall, a detention center for incarcerated youth.
Gelinas said the Best Buy Foundation, along with the Annenberg Foundation, provided the bulk of the funding for the first three Teen Tech Centers. GLAEF added that it is working with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to allocate pandemic relief funds to additional centers. Additional support for the Community Impact Hub comes from a variety of nonprofit organizations and technology companies.
According to the Best Buy Foundation website, the community impact hub concept originated in Los Angeles, and the county currently has 12 Best Buy Teen Tech Centers in various stages. More than 50 Best Buy Teen Tech Centers have been established across the United States since 2013, according to the site.
