WIN Participant Lessonbee Wins $100K Google Award

One of the BCW’s Westchester Innovation Network innovators—the health education tech company Lessonbee—has won a $100,000 award from the Google for Startups Initiative.

Based in Mount Vernon, N.Y., Lessonbee joined the Westchester Innovation Network (WIN) in the spring and the early-stage ed-tech company was matched with the Yonkers housing authority, which is also working with several other WIN participants.

Lessonbee is one of 50 recipients of financial support from the initiative’s Black Founders Fund, which provides cash awards to black-led startups that have participated in Google’s programs or have been nominated by Google’s partner community or a previous recipient. Besides the cash award, Lessonbee will receive Google Cloud credits and hands-on support to help their start-up grow.

“Google’s award is a great honor for our company, and it motivates us to continue our work to bring diverse health education content to young people,” said Lessonbee CEO Reva McPollom. “We are excited about our work with the BCW and the opportunity the WIN program has given us to meet face-to-face with young people who need comprehensive health education.”

WIN is an initiative of the Business Council of Westchester to propel innovation forward as the foundation for the future of economic growth in Westchester County, N.Y. The program matches innovators with local collaborators to test new products.

Lessonbee delivers culturally relevant health and emotional-skills programs. The company’s self-paced online content library with skill-building lessons for middle- to high-school grades has produced measurable gains in classrooms where it has been deployed.

“Lessonbee is a dynamic tech company that is driving innovation in the education sector,” said Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of the Business Council of Westchester, which launched WIN in December. “We congratulate Reva and Lessonbee for this deserved recognition and we look forward to the results from their work with the Yonkers housing authority.”

In October, Lessonbee will target children living in complexes operated by the Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers with its instructional program.