M.U.S.I.C. World HQ

A Lorain, Ohio nonprofit organization which focuses on teaching the community how to use today's technology to enrich their lifestyles.

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M.U.S.I.C. World HQ has been serving the Greater Lorain County and beyond since 1990. After a career in the music industry which spanned more than twenty years, "Sir Leslie" Jennings, as he is known by friends in the music  business, had a vision of how he could take his talents and experience to the next level. He decided to end his travels as a touring entertainer, and embark on a new journey which had always been burning inside him. Yes, back in 1990 he had a vision of how he could use computers and music to attract young people to learning more about technology, interaction, and communication.

Jennings soon realized that it would take an organized effort from within the community in order to make this dream come true. He began studying how to start a nonprofit corporation by reading books at the local library in his spare time. At the same time he enrolled at Lorain County Community College understanding that he would need certain credentials in order to teach technology in the community. After 2 attempts and 3 months later, M.U.S.I.C. World HQ was registered with the state of Ohio as a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization. Just three years later Jennings graduated from Lorain County Community College with degrees in both Computer Programming and Computer Information Systems.

While attending college during the early 90's, M.U.S.I.C. World HQ began to provide training for "at-risk" youth and low-income adults wanting to improve their lives at several local churches and ministries.  As momentum grew and the community became more aware of the organization's  vision, and more importantly the response from area youth, The Neighborhood House Association was Lorain's first established community organization to collaborate with M.U.S.I.C. World HQ to provide after school(Lorain)  and  later on summer youth programs(Elyria) centered around music and technology in 1993. Midnight basketball also saw the merit in offering a technology training module along with its sports curriculum later that year.

In 1994 Leslie Jennings decided to attend the Electronic Servicing Institute for Computer and Electronic Repair, where he graduated as class Valedictorian. This would provide the credentials needed to begin to provide training and services to area community organizations and businesses such as:

•  YWCA (Training to Employment Program) - Computer Repair Workshops for single mothers in transition. Ladies also performed maintenance and cleaning for other nonprofits.
• Salvation Army of Lorain - youth after school and summer Computers and Music Workshops.
• State of Ohio Adult Parole - Computer Repair Workshops (Urban Enrichment Program).
• Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority - Desktop Publishing, Computer Basics, and Resident Newsletters from every LMHA location in the county.
• CenturyTel - Internet training and consulting.

This year would also mark another first for the organization. Jennings had returned to the local library to study books on grant writing and after all the hard work, M.U.S.I.C. World HQ held a youth summer program (Project LINK) which was funded by the Nord Family Foundation. This show of community support was soon followed by the Nordson Corporation Foundation, the Community Foundation, and others.