South Bend’s Technology Resource Center

South Bend Technology, Educational, and Nonprofit partners gather at the Launch of the Technology Resource Center in Ignition Park. Photo Credit: Jacob Titus

On November 6, 2019, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, CIO Denise Linn Riedl, and other City leaders launched a new space dedicated to collaboration, civic innovation, and technology training in South Bend: The Technology Resource Center (TRC).

All will be welcome to the TRC to learn about technology and data, gain skills, and co-build an inclusive tech future for South Bend. A co-location between South Bend Code School, the City’s Civic Innovation & Analytics Divisions, and Bloomberg-funded Commuters Trust, the space will be home to technology and data training, cross-sector “Beta City” collaborations, and public programming about regional innovation.

Below are tweets and pictures from the official launch of the TRC:

The TRC was made possible through support from the City of South Bend and the Lilly Endowment. The City of South Bend has partnered with local nonprofit enFocus to manage programming at the TRC.

South Bend Leaders cut the ribbon for the TRC on November 6, 2019. There were two ribbon cuttings for the TRC: one traditional and one in VR! Photo Credit: Jacob Titus

South Bend Code School programmed a special VR ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of the South Bend Technology Resource Center, a space of technology collaboration and training in our region. Photo credit: Jacob Titus

Current & Upcoming Collaborations at the TRC

To give people a taste of what’s to come, here’s a snapshot of current and planned events taking place at the South Bend Technology Resource Center. If you have ideas for future partnerships and programs, please jump to the bottom of this post to get in touch!

2019 -2020 programs at the TRC:

• A Data Bootcamp for entry level analysts will be held in the winter of 2019 and spring of 2020. This program is generously supported by the Lilly Endowment and aims to take local entry level analysts or data-curious professionals and skill them up. We hope this is just a beginning in a suite of programming to make South Bend workers and institutions data-driven.
• Starting in late 2019, programming by the South Bend Code School will be hosted out of the TRC. To read more about South Bend Code School, check out their Medium Blog.
• In December of 2019, the City of South Bend, South Bend Community School Corporation, Mobile Beacon and PCs for People partnered together to host a Bridging the Gap event. Partners took steps to address our local digital divide, giving 150 free computers and WiFi hotspots to local families.
• Starting in 2020, select SB Academy Classes will be open to the public. SB Academy are internal training courses for City of South Bend employees, most involving data analytics, innovation methods (think: process, improvement or behavioral insights), and tech skills. To see an example course, read this blog post.
• In 2020, the TRC will be a proud partner in the evolution and growth of Bendable in South Bend, a new life long learning platform in our city.

Get Involved + Stay in Touch

We invite local partners who touch technology training and collaboration to contact the Technology Resource Center to book training space, partner with the City for events or programs, receive news or updates, and explore the possible. Please use this form to get involved and stay in touch with us.

The South Bend Technology Resource Center is in Ignition Park on the north end of Catalyst Two.