5 YEARS OF BESN X COMMUNITY

Five years ago, BESN X Community started with a belief that access to technology, creativity, and opportunity shouldn't depend on where you live or who you know.

As we prepare to celebrate our 5th anniversary this October, the last two weeks have been a pretty good picture of how far that idea has come.

We started in Atlanta.

BESN X Community reconnected with AWS at AWS Imagine, opening new conversations around AI, cloud technology, workforce development, and how we can bring more of those tools and pathways directly into our programs.

We participated in Techlanta 2026, connecting with people building across AI, XR, immersive technology, and emerging tech.

We began conversations with Atlanta Parks & Recreation around game development, taking lessons from the work we've already done in Toledo and looking at how games, parks, education, and local storytelling can work together in another city.

And we had the opportunity to celebrate 25 years of the Atlanta CEO Council, reconnecting with a community that has been part of Atlanta's technology and entrepreneurial ecosystem for decades.

Then we brought that momentum back to Ohio.

During Ohio Tech Week, BESN X Community joined Meta at Bowling Green State University, where students had the opportunity to experience emerging wearable technology firsthand.

That matters to us.

We don't want young people simply hearing about what companies are developing. We want them touching the technology, understanding it, experimenting with it, and eventually building for it.

We also showcased our work with students and introduced them to the Pathway Program, game development, STEM careers, and the opportunities we're building through BESN X Community.

Then we took STEM directly into the community at the Toledo Museum of Art Block Party.

Games. Technology. STEM activities. Families. Art. Creativity.

That's BXC.

And alongside all of this, we're continuing conversations with companies including AWS, Snowflake, CDW, Meta and others about what the next generation of workforce development can look like.

Five Years Later

The biggest difference between where we started and where we are today is that we're no longer just talking about what we want to build.

We're building it.

The Toledo STEM Center.

Community STEM labs.

The Pathway Program.

Game development.

AI and emerging technology.

Workforce development.

Partnerships extending beyond Toledo.

And our next five years will be about connecting all of it.

Our goal is to create a pipeline where someone can walk into a BESN X Community program, discover technology, receive training, build something real, develop a portfolio, earn credentials, meet industry professionals, and ultimately connect with employment or entrepreneurship opportunities.

Access → Training → Building → Portfolio → Career.

That's the infrastructure we're creating.

October Starts the Next Five Years

Our fifth anniversary isn't going to be about looking backward for an entire month.

We're going to celebrate what we've accomplished, thank the organizations and people who helped us get here, and then get back to work.

Because Year 6 starts now.

We're preparing the Toledo STEM Center for opening, expanding our STEM labs, growing workforce programming, developing new game and AI initiatives, strengthening our relationships with national technology companies, and building opportunities between Toledo, Atlanta and beyond.

Five years ago, BESN X Community was an idea.

Today, there is infrastructure behind that idea.

The first five years were about proving we could build it.

The next five are about how many people we can bring with us.