NIPSCO, AT&T Donate $30,000 to Hammond Development Corporation, Help Grow “The HUB Of Innovation” In Downtown Hammond

NIPSCO, AT&T Donate $30,000 to Hammond Development Corporation, Help Grow “The HUB Of Innovation” In Downtown Hammond

On Tuesday, November 24, the City of Hammond, Mayor Thomas M. McDermott Jr., NIPSCO and AT&T came together to make a special announcement at "The HUB of Innovation" in downtown Hammond that the two private companies will each be donating $15,000 each to the Hammond Development Corporation, which manages the 'HUB' and the Hammond Innovation Center.

Through internship opportunities and small business development the ‘HUB’ has created an avenue where resources have been made available to cultivate business, develop interns into small business owners and create career employees for Hammond businesses.

“AT&T and NIPSCO have come together to each donate $15,000,” said Rick Calinski, NIPSCO Public Affairs Manager. “It’s really a great re-purpose of a building that was empty in Hammond. NIPSCO is always looking for ways to support S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education.”

“We have a great collaboration here with the not-for-profit Hammond Development Corporation and Purdue University Calumet, Calumet College of St. Joseph, and the Hammond Academy of Science and Technology,” said Calinski. “Everyone coming together to create some technology opportunities with learning is the perfect initiative for NIPSCO to be a part of and we’re just proud to be at the table to support the HUB of Innovation in Hammond.”

Hammond Mayor, Thomas M. McDermott Jr., spoke about how things have changed over time and the new realities of what will make downtown Hammond distinct and attractive to growth and development.

“Downtown Hammond was a lot different fifty or sixty years ago and how we shopped was very different from today,” said Mayor McDermott “What we have now is a new reality and we have to define our downtown to be something stronger, something different than the 50’s, 60’s, or 70’s, and that’s what we’ve done.”

“We have great assets in downtown Hammond,” McDermott said. “If we create the jobs in downtown Hammond and the people are here to do their jobs, opening up a restaurant isn’t such a stretch anymore. Things have changed but it’s things like the ‘HUB’ that are the beginning of what the future of downtown Hammond is going to be. It’s important that partnerships be created like the one we created with AT&T and NIPSCO because things aren’t cheap.”

The HUB is the center of several businesses that bring diversified professionals together, working with the cutting edge of their industries. These businesses are committed to sharing their knowledge with interns as mentors and potential employers who encourage entrepreneurship and the development of new businesses in the Hammond community.

“We’re able to take advantage of the technology that’s here,” said Jasmine Bastardo, a senior at Hammond High School looking at attending Purdue or IUPUI next year. “We’re able to learn more here and apply that to our field that we want to go into. The use of, and experience with, the technology will make us seniors more desireable to colleges. Some of us have already been accepted into schools and they’re looking at our applications. To have the internship here has really helped us out.”

To find out more about ‘The HUB of Innovation’ visit, http://www.hubinnovates.com/