CONTACT US   |   BLOG   |  

Blog

18 Jul

Posted at 22:56h in College & Career Readiness, Nonprofits, STEM, Volunteer by
0 Likes
The art of running a company is usually mastered on the fly by entrepreneurs who’ve cut their teeth in the workforce. But on Chicago’s north side, three groups of teenagers are managing their own high-tech businesses. The Rogers Park Webcreators — 16 students who speak 10 different languages between them — have taken on real-world clients, learned to use design tools and built professional websites. And they’ve earned money doing it. It’s all part of a program created by Chicago nonprofit Lumity. The 32-year-old organization’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Career Readiness Program spearheads a variety of initiatives for at-risk youth in the Chicago area. For the Rogers Park Webcreators, Lumity created a seven-hour-a-week program that paid students $10/hour to build websites for local clients. “It was key to get some funders for the program so we could pay the students. We wanted it to be a real job, not just an after-school club,” says Lumity’s Director of Career Readiness Jack Stonebraker. “This was the first job for most of these kids. Only two had ever worked anywhere before. Now, when they get their next jobs, they’ll be in a better position to go in the first day and start work.”

29 Jun

Posted at 00:35h in College & Career Readiness, STEM, Technology, Volunteer by
0 Likes
On Saturday, May 21, 14 students and over 30 volunteers gathered for the Lumity 1-Day Innovation Challenge. The event was held at the offices of event sponsor Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), a division of BlueCross BlueShield Illinois. The event's purpose was to demonstrate how science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills are applied in career settings. Participating students attend Chicago Vocational Career Academy or Corliss High School and are enrolled in STEM-related learning programs.

29 Jun

Posted at 00:17h in College & Career Readiness, STEM, Technology, Volunteer by
0 Likes

[caption id="attachment_720" align="alignleft" width="300"] A CVCA student experiments with an Oculus virtual reality headset.[/caption] Lumity, a Chicago nonprofit organization focused on career readiness, aims to help its corporate partners give back to the community. One of their partners, Accenture, hosted a Career Site Visit for students...

01 Jun

Posted at 00:01h in STEM, Technology, Volunteer by
0 Likes
Student Web Creators to Unveil Websites Created for Local Businesses On Saturday, June 4, Chicago-based Lumity presents the inaugural “2016 SBE Competition,” an event that is a culmination of the efforts of local business partners and some newly tech-savvy teenage entrepreneurs, which reveals the valuable impact of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) training with some fascinating results.

30 May

Posted at 23:23h in College & Career Readiness, STEM, Volunteer by
0 Likes
By Etelka Lehoczky At Amundsen High School on Chicago’s North Side, there are a few things no student is ever without: jeans worn with just the right attitude; a bulging backpack; and, the most important item of all – a cell phone. The importance of phones in teens’ lives inspired a unique exercise at Amundsen on a recent day in May. The challenge: Design a smartphone app. Divided into groups of 4-6, students sought to envision apps and plan ways to develop them.blue-shirts Guiding the teens were volunteers from global IT firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). How did a multinational company with over 350,000 employees come into the lives of kids at a neighborhood high school? It’s thanks to Chicago-area nonprofit Lumity.