Best Buy has announced that it is expanding its commitment to help underprivileged teens with an investment of $30 million over the next three years.

With the goal of preparing youth for tech-reliant jobs, the Minneapolis-based chain plans to increase the number of its Teen Tech Center (TTC) locations from eleven to more than sixty. Hosted by nonprofit organizations with financial support from Best Buy, the centers will provide nearly twenty thousand teens annually with opportunities to explore technologies such as robotics and 3-D printing through year-round afterschool programming. In addition, a new Best Buy Career Pathways program will provide internship opportunities and career mentorships to two thousand youth a year, while the Best Buy Foundation will boost its grantmaking in support of technology-related educational opportunities for nearly eight hundred thousand youth annually by 2020.

By 2020, the retailer hopes to serve a million youth a year, with the goal of nurturing not only workers with the skills to serve increasingly savvy shoppers, but future inventors who can help fill its stores with new gadgets.

"Our next generation faces a future that puts them squarely in the middle of a technology revolution. Yet, millions of these young people aren't getting the support they deserve to make the most of their potential," said Laura Bishop, Best Buy's chief corporate responsibility and sustainability officer. "We're committed to helping many more underserved youth pursue future careers through tech tools and training early on, along with the career-readiness skills that can help them realize their dreams."

"It's not about getting them into the store," Bishop told the Associated Press, "but getting the next thing in the store."

(Photo credit: Best Buy)