Our History

From providing food to servicing youth......

1527 West Morse Ave was once a Food Co-Op in Rogers Park for many years before the year 2005 when the Howard Area Youth Development Services department moved in, and The Howard Area Clubhouse Program began providing local youngsters a makerspace where they could create robots, video games, and develop design and film editing skills with the Adobe Suite.

Past Accomplishments

Uchi-Con Field Trip: Youth from the HACC Teen REACH program’s Convention Connection Club participated in Uchi-Con 2015 on the campus of University of Chicago in Hyde Park. Uchi-Con is a Japanese Animation convention organized by the University of Chicago’s student-run Japanese Culture Club.  The all-day Uchi-Con Convention featured: Artist’s Alley (a collection of fabulous artists selling fabulous wares); a Masquerade/Cosplay contest; a Gaming Room with Tournaments; Karaoke; and Panel Discussions with Gamers and Anime artists. The purpose of the field trip was for Convention Connection Club youth to learn how to connect with the artists who sold their art work, and to learn from convention organizers aspects of how to host community events such as conventions and expos.

First Tech Competition:  On Dec. 14th 2014, The Clubhouse Robotics team competed in the First Tech Competition (FTC) at Lane Tech High School.  We won the Judges Trophy for being a fully authentic Youth-Led Team that succeeded and excelled despite not having the resources that other teams had. The Howard Area Robotics Club (Robo Beam) aims to create a world in which everyone, regardless of physical and socio-economic differences, has equal access and opportunity to succeed in a technologically-based society. We have been able to reuse Robotics parts from the Howard Area Leadership Academy as well as use donated parts. FTC is designed for students in grades 7-12 to compete head to head, using a sports model. Teams are responsible for designing, building, and programming their robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams. The robot kit is reusable from year-to-year and is programmed using a variety of languages. Teams, including coaches, mentors and volunteers, are required to develop strategy and build robots based on sound engineering principles. Awards are given for the competition as well as for community outreach, design, and other real-world accomplishments.

Intel Computer Clubhouse Midwest Regional Conference (3-days) in Chicago, Illinois: On October 4th, 2013, HACC hosted a portion of the technological break-out sessions with current and former Clubhouse Members facilitation workshops.