The Clubhouse Network, often shortened to "The Clubhouse," is an American nonprofit organization that provides a free out-of-school learning program where children (ages 10–19) from lower income communities can work with adult mentors to explore their own ideas, develop new skills, and build confidence in themselves through the use of technology.
Its motto is "Where Technology Meets Imagination."
Initially founded in 1993 as the Computer Clubhouse, The Clubhouse is the brainchild of
Mitchel Resnick
Mitchel Resnick (born June 12, 1956) is Lego Papert Professor of Learning Research, Director of the Okawa Center, and Director of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. , Resnick serves as h ...
and
Natalie Rusk of the
MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
, and Stina Cooke of
Boston's Computer Museum.
[1998, Resnick, M., Rusk, N., Cooke, S. "The Computer Clubhouse: Technological Fluency in the Inner City", published in: ''High Technology and Low-Income Communities''edited by D. Schon, B. Sanyal, and W. Mitchell, ]MIT Press
The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962.
History
The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publish ...
.
Online version
retrieved on October 18, 2007.
From 2000 - 2015, with an investment of over $50 million from
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
, ''The Clubhouse Network'' grew to support nearly 100 community-based Clubhouses in 18 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, Palestine, Panama, Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, South Africa, and the United States.
[Locations](_blank)
at theclubhousenetwork.org, retrieved on March 8, 2016.
In 2012,
Best Buy
Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...
partnered with The Clubhouse Network to launch multiple learning sites throughout the U.S., operating under the name "Best Buy Teen Tech Centers." The Clubhouse Network provides access to resources, skills, and experience to 25,000 youth per year, to help them succeed in their careers, contribute to their communities, and improve their quality of life.
[Mission & Vision](_blank)
at theclubhousenetwork.org, retrieved on March 8, 2016.
From 2000 to 2017, led by longtime Executive Director Gail Breslow,
The Clubhouse Network was part of the
Museum of Science, Boston
The Museum of Science (MoS) is a science museum and indoor zoo in Boston, Massachusetts, located in Science Park, a plot of land spanning the Charles River. Along with over 700 interactive exhibits, the museum features a number of live presentat ...
. In 2018, it was separated from the Museum and relocated to
Dudley Square
Nubian Square (formerly Dudley Square) is the primary commercial center of the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located at the intersection of Dudley Street and Washington Street. It has long been the center of African American cul ...
in the heart of
Roxbury, in order to serve more youth and families within the community.
In 1997, The Clubhouse won the
Peter F. Drucker
Peter Ferdinand Drucker (; ; November 19, 1909 – November 11, 2005) was an Austrian-American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business co ...
Award for Non-Profit Innovation, for inspiring underserved youth, both locally and as a learning model environment globally, to consider themselves as competent, creative, and critical learners.
In 2016, The Clubhouse partnered with the MIT Media Lab and
Maker Media
''Make'' (stylized as ''Make:'' or ''MAKE:'') is an American magazine published by Make: Community LLC which focuses on do it yourself, Do It Yourself (DIY) and/or Do It With Others (DIWO) projects involving computers, electronics, metalworking, ro ...
to publish ''Start Making! A Guide To Engaging Young People in Maker Activities.''
Clubhouses have been utilized as the proving ground for a number of projects of the MIT Media Lab's "Lifelong Kindergarten" research group. Notable examples include:
*
Lego Mindstorms
Lego Mindstorms is a hardware and software structure which develops programmable robots based on Lego building blocks. Each version includes computer Lego bricks, a set of modular sensors and motors, and Lego parts from the Technic line to ...
programmable bricks, a late 20th-century robotic construction toy.
* PICO
programmable Cricket
Programmable Crickets, known commercially as PicoCrickets, are robotic toys in the form of programmable bricks. They are used to construct artistic projects.
Crickets were developed at MIT Media Lab, and were launched commercially in Montreal in ...
s, early 21st-century programmable toys for art construction projects
*
Scratch, a 21st-century multimedia programming language for young people.
[
2004, Maloney, J., Burd, L., Kafai, Y., Rusk, N., Silverman, B. and Resnick, M., "Scratch: A Sneak Preview. Second International Conference on Creating, Connecting, and Collaborating through Computing, Kyoto, Japan, pp. 104-109.]
Online version
retrieved on October 18, 2007.
References
External links
* {{Official, https://theclubhousenetwork.org
The Clubhouse VillageGlobal RE@CH Media Festival
Youth development organizations
After school programs
International educational charities
United States educational programs
Project-based learning
Educational charities based in the United States
Youth organizations based in Massachusetts