Opportunities Industrialization Center

Opportunities Industrialization Center (doing business as OIC of America, Inc. and OIC International, Inc.) is a nonprofit adult education and job training organization headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with offices located in New Haven, CT, Washington, D.C. and Burma Camp, Accra, Ghana.

Opportunities Industrialization Center
TypeNonprofit
IndustryEducation
FoundedJanuary 26, 1964 (1964-01-26) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
FounderLeon Sullivan
Headquarters
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
,
United States
Number of locations
38 (United States)
20 (international)
Area served
United States
Key people
James Haynes
(President/CEO)
ServicesGED testing
Job training
Websitewww.oicofamerica.org

OIC operates 38 affiliated centers in 22 U.S. states and 20 international centers in Africa, Haiti and Poland that provide General Education Development studies and workforce development courses to help economically disadvantaged persons, minority communities, and adults and adolescents seeking to complete or resume their education and obtain employment.

Foundation

OIC was founded on 1964, when Dr. Leon Sullivan, a civil rights leader and pastor of the Zion Baptist Church in Philadelphia, started an education and job training facility in a converted former jailhouse on 19th and Oxford Streets in North Philadelphia. The program was developed to provide job training and instruction in life skills to disenfranchised peoples with few prospects, and helped place participants into the workforce. Sullivan discovered that thousands of Philadelphia residents in lower-income communities were unemployed, despite a surplus in job vacancies during that time. He believed that finding employment opportunities would generate economic development and empower African Americans over dependence on public assistance programs; this led to the launch of a "selective patronage" campaign, designed as a boycott against Philadelphia-area companies that were not practicing equal opportunity in employment.[1][2]

Renovations to the dilapidated building were funded through donations from community organizers and citizens, and through a grant given by an anonymous donor. The programs provided by the Philadelphia center were replicated in other American cities, which provided employment training and job placement for economically disadvantaged, unemployed and unskilled people of all races. In 1969, Sullivan's concept led to the formation of the Opportunities Industrialization Centers International (OICI), which would expand its services to international communities based on the "self-help" philosophy that Sullivan founded OIC upon. In 1970, Sullivan established OIC of America, Inc. to serve as a national organization that would associated with OIC affiliate campuses across the United States and provide technical assistance centers for areas where the OIC model was replicated.[3]

References
  1. "Sullivan, Leon Howard Jr. (1922-2001)". BlackPast.org. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  2. Jason T. Bartlett. "Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC)". The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  3. Kendall Wilson (April 27, 2001). "Dr. Leon H. Sullivan built a legacy". Philadelphia Tribune. Retrieved July 3, 2017.

Further reading
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