A couple of years ago, we launched the Uptown Tampa Community Collaborative (UTCC) in an effort to better connect the great community partners we worked with and the new organizations and businesses coming into the area. Today, this voluntary association of area businesses, nonprofit organizations, residents, and individuals numbers close to 20 members. The group is distinguished by its authentic commitment to generating positive change in the University Area of Tampa through active engagement in the community and solid ecosystem building. Together, we work to support, uplift and give agency and equitable access to Uptown Tampa residents and businesses, and we thought it was time to start highlighting and celebrating these great community partners.
World Class and State-of-the-Art
Among the member partners of the UTCC are some unique businesses and organizations doing some precedent-setting work in the area. Nowhere else in Tampa, Tampa Bay, or anywhere in Florida is there such a concentration of publicly accessible and equitable powerhouse community-building innovation. Right now, University Mall/ RITHM at Uptown is home to the Southeast’s only urban public Fab Lab with a high-end public makerspace, full-scale robotics center, machine shop, collaborative studio and workspace, 3D printing and rapid prototyping, and comprehensive early-stage entrepreneurship support program that has helped fund and launch over 25 new local businesses since 2020. The Mall is also home to the state’s only Tech Innovation Pre-apprenticeship. To that end, we’ll kick off our Uptown Tampa CC shout-outs with a look at the Foundation for Community Driven Innovation, which powers AMRoC Fab Lab, Net Synergy Virtual Solutions, and WellBuilt Bikes.
Foundation for Community Driven Innovation (FCDI)
FCDI is the nonprofit founder of the Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics Center (AMRoC) Fab Lab based at University Mall.
AMRoC Fab Lab is the only public Fab Lab in the Tampa Bay area and the only facility of its kind in Florida or the Southeastern U.S. with a full-scale robotics training center providing youth and adult competitive and educational robotics experiences. The 8000 sq. ft. facility has a rapid prototyping and fabrication lab, computer labs, textiles, and sewing lab, a full-scale machine shop, and a public Research and Development Lab. AMRoC annually serves hundreds of youth and adults through automotive technology certification training, programs in Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD), 3D printing, and coding, and Open Make opportunities for hobbyists, artists, and builders.
A key FCDI program at AMRoC Fab is the Equity in Entrepreneurship program, which aims to help bridge the race and gender equity gap in early-stage entrepreneurship to help create more inclusive pathways to the Tampa Bay startup ecosystem. Since 2020, with support from Truist, the Truist Foundation, Florida Blue, and Guidewell, and community mentors, Equity in Entrepreneurship launched over 25 new businesses, over 80% are Black and Brown-owned and over 50% women-owned.
Enrollment is currently open for the 2022 Equity in Entrepreneurship summer session, now under the direction of FCDI’s new Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Brian Alvarez-Bailey. Mr. Alvarez-Bailey is the founder of Allison, a Fintech company that serves Community Banks and Credit Unions through a low code API. Program information can be found at Equinent.org. Priority is given to University Area program applicants.
Net Synergy Virtual Solutions (NetSynergy)
Also located in RITHM at Uptown, Net Synergy Virtual Solutions is a Tampa digital transformation and
enablement company with a huge social mission. In addition to delivering Intelligent and Hyper automation services through an innovative “Operations As A Service” model (Digital Operations Factory), the company has launched a workforce and community development group. Under this group, Net Synergy operates LT3 Labs and LT3 Academy. (Shown in photo at left, NET SVS CTO, Chris Morancie, in center, with Bonnie Ingram of Tampa Innovation Partnership at left and Brian Alvarez-Bailey, EiR for AMRoC Fab Lab and Soaring City, at right)
LT3 Labs focuses on building real-life and virtual collaborative spaces that serve as the hub for co-working, people, workforce development, employer collaboration labs, and information pathways. At LT3 labs, the group works every day to help
develop communities where every motivated person feels a sense of true hope that they have a fair and equal chance to fill technology opportunities and build technology-driven businesses. At the heart of LT3 labs is a physical work-campus and virtual community hub. While the work campus will serve as a physical co-working space for collaboration, the virtual community hubs will be a place where the community goes for information on resources related to upskilling and tech-related opportunities (events, training, networking, etc.).
The company’s first location, a 5000 sq. ft facility is located in RITHM and will combine tech with local area art. NET SVS plans on launching these locations throughout the country in areas like Uptown. This will culminate in connecting all work campuses together in the metaverse, creating new opportunities for people to learn and earn together. (In the photo above, Chris Morancie, at right, with Francis Joseph, chair of the Caribbean American National Development Organization (CANDO) , another Uptown Tampa Community Collaborative member.)
LT3 Academy focuses on delivering workforce development training in digital disciplines – automation, AI, ML, IoT, blockchain, and contextualized offerings- fintech, supply chain tech, and more. LT3 Academy differentiates itself from other training offerings by delivering the only tech-focused registered Department of Labor and FL Department of Education registered apprenticeship programs. LT3 Academy, partners with the Digital Operations Factory to guarantee paid employment from week 1 in a one-of-its-kind “earn while you learn” model that supports the economically challenged learner.
Together, LT3 Academy and LT3 labs seek to help build resilient communities by combining digital technology upskilling with community and employer collaboration. Contact Chris Morancie at [email protected] for more information.
WellBuilt Bikes
WellBuilt Bikes is a non-profit bike shop that is making affordable, reliable transportation accessible for everybody. They are
doing this by selling new and refurbished bikes at affordable prices and then investing all service and sales revenue into an Earn-A-Bike program so that those with little to no income can also gain ownership of a bicycle through an investment of community service hours. WellBuilt also offers repairs on a sliding scale so that all can afford to keep their bikes in working order and meet their transportation needs. WellBuilt Bikes is committed to broadening the scope of options of our program participants by offering them the choice to earn the vehicle they need and celebrating the freedom and access that that vehicle provides.
WellBuilt Bikes is also part of a networked family of initiatives such as the WellFed Community, The Kinship Mobile Free Market, the Eden Project, and others that are working to establish other pillars of resilience in our community such as food sovereignty, holistic health, and ecological stewardship. All of these initiatives are locking arms to establish a more #WellBuiltCity. The parent organization that is facilitating and incubating these initiatives is called The Well . Contact Jon Dengler at [email protected] for more information.
Through collaborative partnerships, organizations like these work together in Uptown Tampa to serve thousands of youth and adults, contribute well over $2 million annually to the local economy, improve hirability and place hundreds in well-paying careers, launch sustainable businesses, host unique one-of-a-kind events from cultural festivals to robotics competitions and provide measurably uplifting good work.
In June, look for Grand Re-Openings for NET SVS on June 10 and AMRoC Fab Lab on June 11, celebrating each organization’s move to their respective new spaces in the Mall at RITHM at Uptown, and keep your eye on the AMRoC Fab Lab Calendar page for other events and programs hosted by AMRoC and our Uptown Tampa Community Collaborative friends and neighbors! And look for more Uptown Tampa CC features throughout the year.