Venture Café St. Louis is launching the region’s first Education Innovation Hub in St. Louis (EdHub STL). Known for their weekly and monthly Gatherings of innovators, Venture Café has a track record of building community, connecting innovative thinkers, and providing free educational sessions.

“Education is in Venture Cafe’s DNA,” says Tyler Mathews, Executive Director of Venture Café St. Louis. “We’re a platform where individuals in the innovation community volunteer 600 hours of free, educational sessions at our Thursday Gathering in Cortex and monthly Gathering at Venture Cafe Night: 39 North. If we want to build a future of entrepreneurs we need to collaborate and support our city’s educators.”

EdHub is a physical and intellectual platform for several programs: A fellowship, free event space with transportation provided, education-focused events, and a youth summer program.

The main driver for EdHub is the call to action set by the Forward Through Ferguson Report. “Our region is uniquely positioned to lead and be a model for education innovation across the country,” says Sherita Love who manages EdHub. “As an educator and entrepreneur focused on systemic solutions, I look forward to working collaboratively with all sectors through a lens that catalyzes equity and access for everyone.”

The EdHub will launch a fellowship empowering education intrapreneurs to develop and/or expand transformative education initiatives. Fellows lead a mission-critical project, program or initiative for their school district, charter school, government education agency, community organization or education nonprofit while receiving mentorship, insight + training from industry leaders as well as free co-working space at CIC at Innovation Hall.

EdHub STL is a space for everyone in education. Come to our launch party Aug 30 to learn about the EdHub Fellowship, events that foster collaboration and inclusivity in the education community, grants for education-focused events at Innovation Hall and more. #EdHubSTL pic.twitter.com/OE2Nf5TYGy

— Venture Café STL (@VentureCafeSTL) August 8, 2018

Innovation Hall serves not only as a place for the community to advance their businesses and creative practices but also as a home that includes a mix of free drop-in workspace, premium event and meeting spaces, restaurant and coffee shop, and will also be home to EdHub, which is slated to launch summer of 2018 just before the opening of Innovation Hall to the public in the Fall.

EdHub reinforces Venture Café’s mission to make innovation accessible to everyone and provides even greater depth to this new chapter at Venture Café, the Cortex District and St. Louis.