Located in the Heritage Park neighborhood of North Minneapolis, Summit Academy OIC is the only community-based vocational training and job placement program in North Minneapolis.

In 1996, two well-established training and job placement programs, Twin Cities Opportunities Industrialization Center (TCOIC) and Two or More merged to form Summit Academy OIC. The merger of these two entities created a stronger, more effective organization that has positively impacted the lives of thousands of individuals.

SAOIC is accredited by the North Central Association Commission of Schools, is licensed with the Minnesota Higher Education Offices and is a community-based vocational training and job placement program.

Our Mission

Our Promise

SAOIC Strategy

• Prepare Adults for the World of Work
  Through Summit Academy OIC, students gain access to high quality training in specialized areas of technology, construction and healthcare. By offering supportive services such as career counseling and planning along with "soft skills" training in the areas of job readiness and leadership development, SAOIC ensures students are well equipped with the technical and professional skills necessary to succeed in the workplace.


• Prepare Youth for Their Roles as Responsible Adults
  Summit recognizes that investing in children is the key to securing our future. Summit's youth programs prepare youth for their roles as workers, parents and citizens. In partnership with Minneapolis Public Schools, local government agencies, private sector organizations and parents, SAOIC is working to ensure that disadvantaged and minority children graduate from high school, have the opportunity to pursue post-secondary education and are prepared for their emerging roles as our future leaders.


• Connect Workers to Employers
  If there is anything worse than being untrained and unemployed, it is being trained and unemployed. Vocational training is useless if it does not result in a job that provides a living wage. SAOIC partners with local employers to establish mutually beneficial partnerships where job vacancies are filled with qualified workers. In addition, SAOIC works collaboratively with the local government to identify businesses that have the greatest need to hire a well-trained, skilled and disciplined workforce.

Community of Workers

In healthy communities, adults work and children learn. Conversely, unemployed adults are forced to depend either upon public assistance or illegal means to support their families and their children grow up in a community that does not value education or work. Children of unemployed adults are most likely to mature only to perpetuate the poverty of their parents, not understanding their roles as citizens in their community, with little hope for a brighter future.

In his book, When Work Disappears, Dr. William Julius Wilson, a Harvard professor of African American studies, notes that the major difference between today's neighborhoods compared to poor neighborhoods of the past is the absence of working adults, and the discipline and order that work brings. The economic and social benefits of a community of working adults is evident in earned wages that are spent within the community, home ownership, equal distribution of taxes, and most importantly, seeing adults go to work everyday sets a positive example and inspires hope in neighborhood children.

Summit Academy OIC is leading the way in building healthy communities by filling some of the most economically challenged neighborhoods in the Twin Cities with skilled workers. It is Summit's fundamental belief that "the best social service program in the world is a living wage job!" Summit offers students a seamless support and training system to ensure their success on their journey to a life of opportunities and self-sufficiency.