BCDI is building the next generation of innovators, starting with the Bronx’s young people.

InvenTeam

Last summer 2020, a group of young people BCDI had trained in digital fabrication and electronics came together to identify a challenge they could collectively tackle using technology. As a group, they decided to take on violence and rape culture by creating a wearable device that can monitor safety and alert trusted contacts in the event of an emergency.

This proposal was selected by Lemelson-MIT as one of 14 teams across the country to receive a $10,000 grant to help bring them bring their projects to life.

Watch the film documenting their process below:

Intro to Community Innovation

Participants in this program learned the fundamentals of digital fabrication and electronics, including 3D modeling and printing, laser cutting, CNC machining, and Arduino. However, we do not teach these skills in isolation. Instead, we believe that these are tools for Bronxites to create new products and businesses that contribute to a more just, equitable, and sustainable Bronx economy. Accordingly, participants also learned about the innovation process, technology as an economic sector, and economic democracy.

To date, we have trained 40 young people using this curriculum, which you can find in its entirety here. Our participants have come from Bronx Academy for Software Engineering, Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, Dr. Richard Izquierdo Health Sciences Charter School, and Bronx Collaborative High School as well as the Sistas and Brothas United youth program.

Bronx Innovators Workshop

In summer 2019, eight budding industrial designers created their own ergonomic hand tools as they learn about how to research, ideate, design, build, test, and communicate about their product. By the end of the program, participants understood how to improve form and function of everyday objects through design, in order to create their own products in the future. We ran this program in partnership with Tomorrow Lab, and with support from Futureworks and SecondMuse.