Mind+Hand

Our Story

Mind + Hand was founded by an entrepreneur who grew up in the Chicago area and overcame special education, juvenile delinquency and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) to go on to become a distinguished graduate of Duke, Harvard and MIT and a successful serial entrepreneur.
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Despite having been a top student at these schools, he struggled financially to pay his way through. He almost dropped out because he couldn’t afford to pay his tuition bill.
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His experiences shaped his belief that everyone should have access to a high-quality education regardless of financial background.
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His own research confirmed that a blended learning model - one combining online technology with in-class instruction -- was the best way to learn. Furthermore, it was the best way to cut the cost of education and increase its quality for everyone. With this knowledge he invented a new model - the “micro-school” -- which aims to be the paradigm for skills-based education and community engagement around the world. Inspired by his experiences at MIT, he named it “Mind+Hand” -- because a great education must incorporate not only the “mind,” but also the “hand.”

He left Cambridge Massachusetts in 2015 and returned to Chicago to begin building the foundation for Mind+Hand

The first Mind+Hand facility opened in October 2017 on Chicago’s Southwest Side, near Midway Airport.