In late 2019, as the Sears in Mishawaka, Indiana, closed its doors after ninety-one years, it marked the end of an era—and the end of a job for cashier Saba Tabssum.
Things only got more challenging when the pandemic set in. Still, the mother of two soon found a convenient way to discover and attain a new career: Bendable, an online learning marketplace offered through her local public library.
In the summer of 2020, Saba began taking courses from Penn Foster, one of more than two dozen national and local learning content providers available on Bendable. She started with an introduction to allied health and basic math before making her way through a series of classes that led her to become a certified pharmacy technician.
“I’m so grateful for Bendable,” says Saba, who recently moved to Philadelphia and now works at a CVS for $16.50 an hour—a big step up from the $10 she was earning at Sears. “Everyone who needs skills should turn to Bendable to find the right pathway for them.”
Bendable, created by the Drucker Institute, a nonprofit social enterprise based at Claremont Graduate University, is designed to help libraries lean into a role that they are increasingly playing throughout the country: workforce development.
“Libraries are the most trusted public institutions in America and, as such, are essential to local workforce training,” says the Drucker Institute’s Rick Wartzman. “The data shows clearly that this is especially important in low-income communities and communities of color.”
Bendable is now expanding throughout the country—and the Drucker Institute is looking to collaborate with companies that want to help bring the lifelong learning platform to local libraries to help ensure that the programming offers training on the most in-demand skills.
If you’re interested in learning more about Bendable and how you can get involved, just shoot an email to Rick.Wartzman@cgu.edu.
