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Awaken the Genius

By Alexis George

Since its inception in 1967, Frontline Outreach Inc. has equipped urban youth for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Academics and Innovation Disciplines (known as the L.E.A.D. Model). Recently, the nonprofit announced the launch of a new educational program designed to immerse students in the different facets of technology during its first Annual Breakfast.

Called Frontline Innovation Studios, this state-of-theart-facility will expose Orlando’s youth to emerging technologies while providing them with hands-on experience in the field. With the mission to ‘awaken the genius’, youth in the community will have the opportunity to participate in four distinct program areas: communications, careers, currency and care of self.

Bishop Allen T.D. Wiggins, Hope Center West Founder, first established a strategic alliance with Frontline Outreach Inc. in 2013 and has continued to provide leadership to the organization since 2015. He explained that it was the pandemic that truly showed Frontline Outreach Inc. and the rest of the world how the acceleration of technology defines how we live, work, learn and connect as a society. As such, there became a clear need to position youth for careers that can enable them to seize their place and thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. “As technology continues to grow and flourish, there will be more demand for professionals ready to take on technology careers,” says Wiggins. “When children start getting excited about technology and the potential it offers them from a young age, they’re more prepared for their future and the possibilities it offers.”

Frontline Innovation Studios will be supported by Ascend Studios with partnerships from locally renowned organizations like Full Sail University and more.

“In the years ahead, Frontline Innovation Studios sees itself as the epicenter of technology exposure to youth within our greater community. To accomplish this, we will have the broadest possible number of partnership relationships with technology institutes, academic institutions and private corporations that are creating the technologies and jobs that will revolutionize our future,” Wiggins says.

In addition to strategic partnering, Frontline Outreach Inc. is raising money for its million-dollar fundraising campaign. The funds collected will aid in facility improvements and the purchase of cutting-edge equipment. Remaining fundraisers for the year include an Encore Breakfast on Aug. 4 and an MSI-Frontline Golf Benefit scheduled for Sep. 30.

Wiggins says it is important to meet the fundraising campaign goals so that Frontline Outreach Inc. can ensure Frontline Innovation Studios is an environment that promotes excitement about the future of technology.

“Our design for Frontline Innovation Studios is more than aesthetics; it will inspire Frontline’s youth to feel needed and wanted while motivating them to collaborate and create. In this new place, they will absorb the optimism and confidence to know that they are not only a part of the future, but through the Genius that we will awaken in them, they will create the future.”

To learn more about Frontline Outreach and Frontline Innovation Studios visit www.frontline-outreach.org

Bishop Allen T.D. Wiggins