Imagine If You Will…
From the original article announcing the goals and objectives of the Hub
the hub aims to “complement incubators that already exist” in D.C. with its unique focus on underrepresented entrepreneurs. The companies that occupy the space won’t just be about creating the latest app — they’ll be interested in exploring “how to use innovation as a tool to help the underserved.”
Let’s close our eyes and imagine if you will a place where students from a university interact with the businesses and entrepreneurs in the surrounding community. A place where companies in the community have easier access to provide internships and opportunities to these students. Furthermore a place where startups can interact with professors, engage the students and build a community of like minded individuals looking to create products, companies and jobs while providing opportunities for all in the community.
Let’s get really crazy and imagine if this place provided workforce development programs focused to training the community for jobs in the innovation economy and did not require the equivalent of almost a year's salary, require you to quit your current job just for the opportunity to better your employment options.
Imagine if the space somehow was a showcase for the White House, a place where we could see the progress of programs like the tech hire initiative and the CS4ALL focused on helping provide opportunities to those less fortunate than others.
And finally image this place filled with people that look like you who can empathize with your challenges and share in your successes in a way where you feel connected and valued.
Image if this place existed so that all of the companies and organizations who are committed to tech inclusion and diversity had a place to provide financial support in the community where diverse individuals actually live and not require them to be uprooted to a new environment away from their support system as they try to succeed where they never felt they could succeed or fit in before
I imagine this place everyday and Luma Lab is looking for support from others who are willing to suspend any sense of reality to envision something like this place. Maybe we cannot create this imaginary place, but we can most certainly continue to strive towards that goal.
