Eight years ago, a Jackson native working on Amazon's artificial intelligence team decided her hometown needed a place where technology stopped being something that happened to other people. That decision became The Bean Path, and this October the nonprofit marks its eighth anniversary with a six-day run of programming under the theme "People. Pathways. Possibilities."
The celebration runs October 19 through October 24, 2026, with most weekday events at The Bean Path Makerspace at 451 North Gallatin Street in Jackson. The schedule mixes the practical and the playful: workforce and STEAM programming, a youth robotics scrimmage, an artificial intelligence hackathon, and a closing anniversary block party on Saturday, October 24, with free food, live music, family activities and hands-on demonstrations.
The week's lineup reflects how the organization has grown. On Thursday, October 22, adults 55 and older are invited to an OATS open house at 10 a.m. to explore upcoming classes and programs, and there are two sessions of a beginner Canva design class, at 1 p.m. and again at 6 p.m., where participants build a flyer or social post from scratch with computers provided. On Friday, October 23, founder and CEO Dr. Nashlie Sephus sits down for a hybrid conversation about the future of technology, AI and opportunity in Mississippi, and about The Bean Path's next chapter. Somewhere in the middle of the week, the organization's youth robotics teams take the floor for a live scrimmage, and the AI hackathon puts the region's builders to work.
The numbers behind the anniversary are substantial. According to the nonprofit, it has served more than 17,000 people, invested $6 million in technology access, and supported more than 300 entrepreneurs and small businesses since 2018.
That origin story begins with a drive. Sephus, a Murrah High School and Mississippi State University graduate, had been chief technology officer of the visual recognition startup Partpic, which Amazon acquired in 2016. She went on to work on fairness in AI at Amazon. In December 2018, driving through Jackson, she passed the barn building on Gallatin Street she had loved since childhood, struck up a conversation, and learned the owner held property on both sides of the street. She bought a 12-acre lot along Gallatin and set out to build a tech hub in her hometown, one meant to advance the local economy, build financial stability, train young people for the workforce, and close the gap between nearby Jackson State University and the central business district.
Her vision for what became the Jackson Tech District was a $25 million redevelopment of roughly a dozen abandoned acres of vacant lots and dilapidated buildings, turning seven of those structures into a self-sustaining village where people could live, work, play and eat, with a makerspace, electronics lab, photography studio, apartments, restaurants, a grocery store and an innovation center. The Bean Path itself launched in 2018 as an incubator and technology consulting nonprofit, offering technical assistance and guidance to residents and small businesses that otherwise had no one to call.
That mission has only widened. The Bean Path is now piloting the AI Agency, an initiative to help small businesses across Metro Jackson adopt artificial intelligence for their online presence, sales funnels, marketing and customer engagement. Run in partnership with Jackson State University's Art Department, Innovation Center and College of Business, the program pairs trained university students with local nonprofits and small businesses, giving students real-world experience while giving owners affordable help. It is funded through a $250,000 grant awarded to the Mississippi AI Collaborative, a partnership of The Bean Path, JSU, Mississippi Coding Academy and the Mississippi Chapter of the Computer Science Teacher Association.
"The AI Agency is just another way The Bean Path is creating a tech ecosystem through community centered programming, exposing and demystifying technology, while empowering our community to learn, explore, and prepare for jobs within STEAM and for the future," Sephus said when the initiative was announced.
The anniversary week is not the organization's first block party. The tradition has marked each year of growth, from a drive-thru celebration on the Gallatin Street grounds during the pandemic era to last year's seventh-anniversary gathering, which ran 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and included a history exhibit honoring seven years of impact. The eighth edition arrives with a longer runway, six days instead of one, and a broader menu of ways for neighbors to walk in.
What ties the week together is the same idea that started it: that access is the first step toward innovation. In a state where the digital divide is not an abstraction but a daily obstacle, The Bean Path has spent eight years handing out the tools, the training and the introductions that let people build something of their own. The block party on October 24 is open to the general public, and the organization is inviting the whole city to bring the crew and spend a Saturday with good food, good music and plenty to experience together.