Indiana Wesleyan hopes to map out dreams with new Mobile Career Lab

Indianapolis, Indiana – The goal of Indiana Wesleyan University’s new resource is to provide workforce development resources directly to areas that most need them.

At its North Indianapolis Campus, Indiana Wesleyan hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Mobile Career Lab on Wednesday.

IWU leaders want to put people in touch with the tools they need to discover a new career, obtain a GED, select a college or training program, or certify for a job.

The objective, according to Dr. Jon Sampson, the school’s vice president of student success and regional workforce engagement, is to increase access to existing career tools rather than to replace them.

“There are a lot of great resources already in place in Indianapolis, in our state,” Sampson said. “We want to be here to help students, or to help individuals who say, ‘How do I get from where I am to where I want to be?’ So we’re really helping people understand their agility, their interests, and where they want to be and craft a learning pathway to get there.”

The lab is a little bus that has been modified to resemble any office on a university campus.

After completing an assessment on board, guests can discuss their professional objectives with staff members and work together to create a strategy for connecting to additional resources at Ivy Tech, the Shepherd Community Center, Work One Indy, Christel House D.O.R.S. Program, the Excel Center, and other locations.

Being mobile is a huge advantage, according to Carla Biro, director of the school’s career labs.

Biro stated, “We are very much focused on communities of color, marginalized communities, and those that may not necessarily have that access.” “We reasoned that it would be more effective to bring the resource to them rather than waiting for them to come to us.”

In the long run, IWU wants to introduce the bus to towns in northern Kentucky, sections of Ohio, and Indiana.

In Kokomo, the Mobile Career Lab conducted some trial runs. The Strada Education Foundation is hosting its inaugural event on Monday at the Indiana Research Institute.