LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A new opportunity to let young people access technology in Louisville is now available. 

The Best Buy Teen Tech Center aims to provide an innovative learning environment for underserved teens. The center came together through a partnership with YMCA and the GE Appliances.

It will provide access to technology, mentorship, training opportunities and post secondary resources. It’s an effort to prepare young people for careers in tech related fields. 

Shawn Wright, director of the Best Buy Teen Tech Center, stands with some of the center's audio equipment. (Spectrum News 1/Diamond Palmer)

What may look like a classroom is actually Kentucky’s first Best Buy Teen Tech Center. Its director, Shawn Wright, has the opportunity of assisting young people through their experiences with technology in the center.

“They’ll make a beat and then I’ll help them. Then, I’ll say let’s figure out how to export it or make it better,” said Wright.

Wright said this is exactly what young people in Louisville need. The space is located inside of the Republic Bank Foundation YMCA in the West End.

Combining tools like green screen for video production, recording studio for music podcasts, music production equipment, beat making software, graphic design software, professional DJ software, guitars, drawing tablets, coding robots, cameras, 3D printers, VR headsets and a t-shirt press. The center aims to make sure young people with different backgrounds have access to technology.

“You’d be surprised. I mean, some of them are already geniuses. Things like basketball and football and stuff get pushed throughout our communities, but that doesn’t represent all of us. Those sports and things don’t represent Black people and Brown people as a whole,” said Wright.

Currently, the center serves nearly 40 students daily. Will Woodworth is tasked with leading and opening the centers for Best Buy in North America. He says this is just the beginning. The company has a goal of building 100 centers by 2025.

“The good news is that no young person has to be an expert when they walk in. They often get a chance just by being here and working with others to learn side by side from peers from what they may be interested in. But also how they can take something that they’ve seen as a project and make something like it but make it their own or maybe make it better,” said Woodworth.

With access to creativity, Wright says there’s no limit on what this center can do. 

“They now can express themselves in a way they might not have been able to before,” said Wright.

It started by giving a chance to the young people of Louisville. The center operates Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. People using the center do not need a membership to the YMCA, but they must be 12 to 18 years of age.

Best Buy currently has 46 centers across the United States from Los Angeles, California, to Boston, Massachusetts.