Beloit will soon be home to Hendricks CareerTek, a state-of-the-art career center located on Third Street in the Ironworks Corridor, to provide career development, career education, and career opportunities to youth in the Greater Beloit community. Located at 625 Third Street, Suite 200, Hendricks CareerTek is being funded by a generous grant by the Hendricks Family Foundation to the Stateline Boys & Girls Club. Hendricks CareerTek seeks to partner with the School District of Beloit, the Boys & Girls Clubs, the Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce, Irontek, and area businesses to provide community youth the opportunities to gain valuable insights into workforce demands, career pathways, and requisite skill sets.
Hendricks CareerTek is an exciting initiative by the Hendricks Family Foundation, responding to a need in the Greater Beloit region for career development and education for area youths. This facility represents a commitment by the Hendricks Family, and other committed leaders, to innovation and education for students, by making known the wonderful and viable career opportunities that exist in their own community.
“I’m excited to work with students to help them consider all the possibilities that allow for a prosperous future and the feeling of personal achievement,” said Diane Hendricks on behalf of the Hendricks Family Foundation. “Hendricks CareerTek will provide an important career service to these students, who might not otherwise have great experiences with career exploration, or the knowledge that so many local opportunities and alternatives for success after graduation truly exist in Beloit.”
Hendricks CareerTek will be located directly adjacent to the new Irontek Business Incubator, and in the center of the Ironworks corridor, which houses a number of rapidly growing, innovative, and driven technology business like Comply 365 and AccuLynx. “We chose this spot for Hendricks CareerTek specifically because of its location in the middle of Beloit’s very own emerging tech hub,” said Hendricks. “Computer and digital technology skills are a huge career opportunity—especially for today’s youth in this Digital Age—and so we are working off the energy that’s already in that location.”
As part of its programming, Hendricks CareerTek will engage with workshops and other programming that directly complements skills in high demand by today’s workforces, such as coding, communication and marketing skills, and entrepreneurship.
Programming includes but is not limited to: career exploration workshops, business listening sessions, soft skills boot camps, financial literacy workshops, keynote speakers, and other workforce-related initiatives. Individual career sessions are also provided for one-on-one exploration.
Additional programming includes the Hendricks Career Press, which will be an online publication written and run by students. The publication will afford students numerous authentic experiences to gain skills that impact future employability like writing, editing, speaking, interviewing, using technology, collaboration, media and social media marketing skills, and more—all while reporting career information to their student peers and the Stateline community.
Tina Salzman has been appointed the center’s Business & Education Director, and is responsible for maintaining all programs and being a bridge between the students, the center’s programs, and the business community. Additionally, Salzman will work closely with Lindsay Healless, Career Advocate with the School District of Beloit (a position also generously funded by the Hendricks Family Foundation) to provide guidance and support for students seeking Career and Technical Education (CTE), skilled trades, and workforce readiness skills.
“As Business & Education Director, I am excited that Hendricks CareerTek can offer programming to bridge students’ learning with career exploration and training in a location like Irontek where they will be surrounded by progressive, innovative thinking. This generous grant affords our students and community the advantage of a center and services that are driven to support career education, skills development and connecting students to authentic work experiences with a constant pulse on growing demands and needs of the workforce.”
Hendricks CareerTek working in conjunction with the Stateline Boys & Girls Club will provide a greatly needed service to community youths and future professionals, and fulfill the Boys & Girls Club mission “to enable all young people…to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.”
Stateline Boys & Girls Club Chief Professional Officer, Mark Rand said, “The Stateline Boys & Girls Club is truly excited at the endless possibilities Tina Salzman and Hendricks CareerTek can provide to our kids and all the kids in the Stateline Area.”
Hendricks CareerTek will be open year-round from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. to afford both businesses and students access to its services. Construction on Hendricks CareerTek is underway by Corporate Contractors Incorporated, CCI, and the center is scheduled for opening shortly after the New Year.