There’s A Lot to Learn in Lowell…

Lowell is rightly celebrated for its past as the first industrial city in America, as a vibrant city of immigrants, for its unique urban national park, and for its rich cultural and arts community. It is also the home of the prestigious University of Massachusetts Lowell campus – a first rate research university – and the dynamic Middlesex Community College, one of the largest in Massachusetts.

Lowell is a city of learning and the idea of Lowell as an educational hub is built into its DNA going back to Patrick Mogan’s vision in the late 1970s of Lowell as “an educative city.” The urban National Historical Park was part of that vision and has made Lowell a destination city. Lowell has the educational institutions, the museums and art galleries, the community of artists of all kinds, and hundreds of community groups that offer educational programming that stretches from vegetable gardening to glass blowing to citizenship training. As is often said, you can go from kindergarten to a Ph.D. and never leave the city.

This vibrant and comprehensive infrastructure is the base on which we have built the City of Learning.

Lowell as a Learning City

Given the unique landscape of the city and the numerous institutions that call it home, we are perfectly situated call Lowell a “City of Learning”. Lowell is a city that effectively utilizes its resources to resources to:

promote inclusive learning from basic to higher education
revitalize learning in families and communities
facilitate learning for and in the workplace
extend the use of modern learning technologies
enhance quality and excellence in learning
foster a culture of learning throughout life

In so doing we will develop and reinforce individual empowerment and social cohesion, economic and cultural prosperity, and sustainable development throughout the city.

Building our City…

By framing Lowell as a City of Learning we combine all the elements that make Lowell such a and exciting place defining the value of the City as:

a destination for business development, drawn by an educated citizenry
a place where lifelong education and skills-building meet the challenges of the Gig and Digital economy
a destination for visitors
an inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable city
a place of community cohesion, and excitement across and within neighborhoods
a city with national and international recognition

What’s happening in the City of Learning…?

Connecting Lowell’s wide web of educational institutions: the numerous non-profits, galleries, artists, innovators and entrepreneurs.
A -Day Celebration of Learning that builds upon the partnerships and activities developed over the years by Lowell Earth Day. This year’s Festival of Learning starts with an Opening Ceremony on Monday, April 29 and runs until May 5 and culminating in an Earth Day Parade and Festival. Many events are scheduled throughout the week.

THANK YOU!

This effort would not have possible without the generous support of the University of Massachusetts, Lowell Office of Sustainability, Enterprise Bank and the City of Lowell. We would particularly like to thank Mayor William Samaras, the Lowell Plan and the many organizations that make up the Lowell City of Learning initiative