Non-Profit of the Year: Studer Community Institute

STUDER COMMUNITY

INSTITUTE BY NICOLE WILLIS

Studer Community Institute (SCI) is a nonprofit, research-based entity with the mission of improving the quality of life for all people in the diverse communities it serves. Founded in 2014 by Quint Studer, the institution has focused on improving education and economic development at the local level. SCI seeks to improve these two areas by offering leadership training and employee development for small and mediumsized businesses, as well as researching early childhood education and brain development.

Studer Community Institute has been recognized as The Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce’s “Non-profit of the Year” for its dedication to the Pensacola community. Over the past year, SCI has been working to accomplish its goal of improving the lives of those in the community through its various programs.

SCI has accomplished many feats in terms of economic development. The institute has developed the Spring Entrepreneur Hub, which is a mentorship program for local entrepreneurs who are seeking to create or improve their businesses. Through its Entrepreneurship and Leadership Development programs, SCI provided 4904 training and mentoring hours to businesses and employees in the previous year.

SCI also focuses on offering parents and children resources for early childhood education and brain development. SCI heavily focused on the importance of early brain development in the previous year. In 2021, 5,208 families in the area benefited from SCI’s in-hospital early brain development tools and programs. SCI also helped to complete The Sitton Bear Kugleman playground, which is an outdoor learning environment in the Moreno Court apartment complex. In addition to these two accomplishments, SCI developed a text messaging program that sends parents tips on how to encourage early brain development in their children; in 2021, 2,069 parents were involved with the program.

President of Studer Community Institute, Rachael Gillette, spoke about SCI’s mission and her involvement with the team at SCI, “I am in my 8th year at SCI and it’s been an incredible journey. No day is ever the same and we have an amazing mission that drives me every day. I have such an incredibly loyal and dedicated team, who are doing the work in our community that is improving lives.”

The team at SCI are using the technologyrelated skills gathered from the pandemic to deliver high-quality hybrid experiences and reach a greater number of people. In 2021, CivicCon utilized live stream technology that reached more than 70,000 people virtually, and more than 2,000 people attended the event in person. CivicCon is a SCI event in which experts from across the country share with the community and speak on a wide variety of topics that can be used to improve the quality of life and strengthen the local community.

Apart from offering direct support to parents and business owners, SCI also makes itself a resource for curious community members and aspiring entrepreneurs alike. The results of SCI’s research are displayed online through its Community Dashboard. The Community Dashboard is a compilation of local data gathered by SCI that can be used to identify what areas our community needs to focus on for improvement.

SCI’s great accomplishments lead to the institute being named “Non-profit of the Year” by the Chamber. The SCI team is grateful for the community and the chamber’s support in helping the institute achieve all it has been able to achieve.

“There are so many incredible non-profits in our community and to be recognized as nonprofit of the year is a huge achievement. The recognition and support from the chamber and the community means so much to the entire SCI team. We are surprised, humbled and thrilled to receive this award,” Gillette said.

In the upcoming year, SCI is planning to expand two of its programs: The Spring Entrepreneur Hub and America’s First Early Learning City. Put on pause by the pandemic, SCI’s America’s First Early Learning City project is relaunching. In 2016, SCI built the roadmap to achieve this goal for our city and they have been working towards the goal since. SCI is working to craft a community that understands the value of school readiness, supporting parents, neighborhood play areas and lifelong learning. The Spring Entrepreneur Hub is on track to work with 300 businesses and is striving to reach more minority businesses this year. To recognize accelerating local businesses, SCI has launched the “5 Fastest-Growing Businesses Awards.” SCI hopes that this new entrepreneurial opportunity will help to inspire other local businesses as well.

As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, SCI relies solely on the support of the community. “We can only achieve our mission with the support of the community and their willingness to work with and support us in carrying out our mission,” Gillette explained. “We are so very thankful for all those who do, for the award of non-profit of the year from the Chamber, and we invite others in the community to learn more about SCI and get involved today.”

For more information on SCI and to find out about how to get involved, visit studeri.org.