2019 has been a transitional year for the Business Innovation Center. We finally completed the core renovations of our Cafe expansion and started building our education programming model. We have assembled a fantastic STEAM Team to help us deliver a wide range of expertise and fun into our programs.

We launched our VISOR Program which stands for Visual Insights and Strategic Occupational Readiness. This is a unique curriculum model designed to prepare young adults with life skills and insights that can help them navigate the many uncertainties in the future of work. We explore priority skills and insights that will be most important as technological and climate changes accelerate. The VISOR program is intended as a jobs and lifelong learning alignment program. VISOR teaches the foundations of entrepreneurialism, productivity skills for virtual work environments and an in-depth understanding of the behavior sciences used in gamification. The VISOR Program is agile and can be modified to add value in a number of ways and complement other programs.

We were fortunate to have received funding through MASSHIRE New Bedford to deliver VISOR as a 720-hour certificate program, to youth between 16 and 24, through the career center in New Bedford. This also allowed us to open an extended location resource at the co-creative space in downtown New Bedford.

Our 2020 after school, family STEAM Team Workshops were made possible by a generous grant from the Episcopal City Mission. These workshops are scheduled over a six month season, 4 nights per week, January through June. This allowed us to create an ambassador program of 20 ten month scholarships for low income and underserved youth. Through this program, Ambassadors receive the full benefits and resources of the BIC for broadening their skills and insights into Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. Register today and find out more CLICK HERE

Coworking Space Membership and business networking has grown and is attracting a unique blend of businesses to the BIC. This momentum will lead to several member-driven workshop programs ranging from technology, health, and wellness to Immigration law. See our meetups for more info:

• Fall River New Technology and Business Innovation
• Fall River Entrepreneur/networking Meetup

Our TAG Networking group is celebrating its fourth year and helping several local businesses grow their businesses through referrals. Join us the first and third Wednesday of every month from 8:15 am till 9:30 am.

Professional development opportunities continue to thrive through our Fall River Innovators Toastmasters Club. This is our 4th year and for the past three years we have achieved the highest status of "Presidential Distinguished". This is a great group of folks working through a world-class curriculum designed to grow skills in leadership and public speaking. Join us any second or fourth Thursday of the Month from 6 pm till 8 pm.

Check out the promo video for VISOR we produced in house.

One of the many exciting things I am looking forward to in 2020 is how we will build interest and programming in our NEW Streaming Video "Podcast" Studio with our BIC Media Labs Programming. This year we made significant improvements to both our music and video production studios. We upgraded much of our software and hardware computer systems and installed new lighting in our video studio. The new production platform will make it much easier to teach students how to use the equipment and allow us to offer several new communities access to video streaming, podcasting and broadcasting services. This will help our members build new audiences and the ability to communicate event and activity information quickly and efficiently.

I am proud that our "communities of communities" here are growing momentum. We have attracted some interesting and fun people to share ideas and fellowship on our journey of personal and professional development.

We hope to see you and your friends again soon at the BIC.