DETROIT – A Detroit tutoring center was awarded a national award for STEM education.
No Fear Café sits off Cass Avenue in Detroit’s Tech Town neighborhood. It’s a learning center offering stem programs and tutoring for children and adults.
Wednesday, the small business got quite the surprise from the book-keeping software company Inuit QuickBooks -- a $20,000 check.
Alicia McKay, founder and CEO of No Fear Café, knew she was receiving the Intuit QuickBooks and Mailchimp’s Small Business Hero Award but had no idea it came with a monetary prize.
Once McKay realized all the cameras were there, not just for an award presentation, she was shocked and couldn’t help but laugh.
Her business was nominated by Charmaine Fuller, a parent of a No Fear Café student and Intuit QuickBooks employee. The national company’s senior communications manager, Dan Mahoney, said Fuller’s essay is a big reason why No Fear Café beat out hundreds of small businesses across the country.
“Just hearing the impact that it had, not only on her (Fuller) but on the other students that she had the opportunity to meet and the other parents, and just the broader community here and making education, helping make education fun,” said Mahoney.
This is just the second year of the campaign. This year three small businesses were awarded, one in Atlanta, another in New Orleans, and in Detroit.
“Intuit QuickBooks and MailChimp are just wholly focused on powering small business success, and that’s what our platform and products are all about and what we’re focused on delivering every day,” said Mahoney. “This campaign is just one moment that we’re able to help showcase that and engage with the small businesses that we serve every day, so we’re really excited about it.”
Before the big reveal, McKay told Local 4 about how she sees the difference she’s made since her business launched in February 2020.
“Today we have our homeschool support program, and I think that impact has been absolutely huge because we’re offering those groups a chance for socialization, a chance to learn some skills that maybe their parents aren’t necessarily experts at,” McKay said.
She had no clue the difference was enough to grant her $20,000. Now she plans to leave bigger impressions on students.
“The ‘T’ in STEM is technology, and that’s expensive, but I really want to get them equipped and get expensive equipment in their hands, and this will help that,” said McKay.