Back in the mid-1960s Bill Strickland was a directionless public school student in Pittsburgh who didn’t really see a path for success for him or his fellow lower class, minority student friends. Then, one day he walked past a classroom and saw a teacher sitting at a pottery wheel and that moment, and how he responded to it, changed his life. And since then has changed the lives of countless young people not only in Pittsburgh, but around the country and beyond. Manchester Bidwell Corporation (MBC) takes seemingly disparate elements adult career training, youth arts education, jazz presentation and botanical sales (they grow orchids) and combines them into a program with a proven record of positively changing the lives of underserved populations. Bill has helped start an additional 13 centers, including five in Pennsylvania, 6 in other US states, 1 in Puerto Rico, and 1 in Israel.
Back in the mid-1960s Bill Strickland was a directionless public school student in Pittsburgh who didn’t really see a path for success for him or his fellow lower class, minority student friends. Then, one day he walked past a classroom and saw a teacher sitting at a pottery wheel and that moment, and how he responded to it, changed his life. And since then has changed the lives of countless young people not only in Pittsburgh, but around the country and beyond. Manchester Bidwell Corporation (MBC) takes seemingly disparate elements adult career training, youth arts education, jazz presentation and botanical sales (they grow orchids) and combines them into a program with a proven record of positively changing the lives of underserved populations. They now have 14 centers, including five in Pennsylvania, six in other US cities, one in Puerto Rico, one in Israel, and the newest in Ireland.
The Edison Awards return to Southwest Florida this month. COURTESY PHOTO For three days this month, the planet’s most illustrious minds innovators, inventors and down-right geniuses converge on Fort Myers, introducing the world and Southwest Florida to products and services designed for the greater good. From advances in medicine and health technologies