Erie Center for Arts & Technology (ECAT)

The Erie Center for Arts & Technology (ECAT) is a community-based educational arts and career training facility that inspires, educates, and empowers people of all ages with adult job training and creative youth programs.

ECAT is modeled after the Manchester Bidwell Corporation, founded in Pittsburgh in the 1960's and successfully replicated throughout the U.S. as a response to systemic racism and poverty.

The Manchester Bidwell model is built on three core philosophies, all of which are shared by ECAT:

1. Environment shapes behavior.

2. All people are assets.

3. Creativity fuels enterprise.

Guided by these philosophies, ECAT presents two platforms for engagement with Erie's at-risk youth and unemployed and underemployed adults. Both platforms are provided together in a world-class facility - a place of light, beauty, openness, inclusion, and respect - that represents a start contrast to the physical and emotional characteristics of poverty. These platforms are:

•  Visual Arts-Based Education, offered during out-of-school time, for high school and middle school students who are most at risk of dropping out


• 
  Industry-driven Workforce Training in middle skill, middle wage jobs for unemployed and underemployed adults in Erie County

All programming is offered at no cost to students and a one-time institutional scholarship is offered to adults in workforce training. 

ECAT also recognizes that our non-traditional, adult students have other challenges that can provide barriers to successful program completion, so work to provide a holistic approach to our student's experience, providing three types of support:

1. Academic: ECAT's low student-to-teacher ratio allows our students to receive individualized, guided support from instructors as they work in both classroom and clinical instructional environments.


2. Referral-based: We maintain a robust network of community partners and resources to make direct connections for our students as they seek childcare, support groups, mental health services, crisis services, and grief counseling.


3. Monetary: We acknowledge that sometimes the greatest barrier to student success comes from insufficient funds. Students are eligible for assistant through the Student Support Fund. These funds helped the students cover expenses such as:
   
   
   • housing costs, including rent payments,
   
   
   • vehicle towing and repairs,
   
   
   • purchasing prescription eyeglasses,
   
   
   • transportation and parking costs to attend school and externships,
   
   
   • required clearances and medical exams for externship participation,
   
   
   • backpacks and needed school supplies
   
   
   • basic needs such as diapers, food, and hygiene supplies