On Friday, August 19th, I attended the graduation ceremony for students in the summer session class at Workshops for Warriors. I have attended previous graduations and two of their gala fundraising events since I first visited Workshops for Warriors® (WFW) on Manufacturing Day in 2012.
The mission of WFW is to provide quality training, accredited STEM educational programs, and opportunities to earn third party nationally recognized credentials to enable veterans, transitioning service members, and other students to be successfully trained and placed in their chosen advanced manufacturing career field. WFW is a fully audited, board-governed 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Their motto is “Rebuilding American Manufacturing, One Veteran at a Time®.”
In a previous article in 2012, I described how Hernán Luis y Prado and his wife Rachel founded WFW in 2008 and self-financed the training provided in their own garage while Hernán was still in the service. They moved into their first small building in 2011 and moved into their current location in San Diego in 2012.
Workshops for Warriors is a DoD Skillbridge program offering accelerated four-month courses in spring, summer, and fall semesters in CNC Machining, Welding, and Advanced Welding.
Hernán said students earn nationally recognized portable credentials from The American Welding Society (AWS), the National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS), Mastercam University, SolidWorks, Immerse2Learn, the National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3), and others.
Including the graduates of this class, WFW has graduated 1070 students in the past 14 years who have earned 11,723 certifications. There are currently 12 instructors on staff, supported by an administrative staff of three in addition to CEO and Founder, Hernán and his wife, Rachel, who is CFO and Chief Academic Office.
Director of Operations, Keshia Javis-Jones, is a Marine Corps Veteran who joined WFW in 2017. During the graduation ceremony, she shared some initial concerns that veteran students have in common:
- Finances – scared because they don’t know what their next money will come from
- Uncertainty about their future
- Stressed out
She said these veterans have just taken off a uniform that made them part of an organization that was like their family. She said WFW becomes their new family, and WFW helps them out financially, even providing them a place to live while going through training if needed.
Two graduates were honored during the ceremony for their high scores in achievement for their certifications. Michael Good received the honor for welding, and Jacob Nichols received the honor for machining. Michael will continue at WFW for his certification in Welding 2, and Jacob will join WFW as a teaching assistant. Keshia said that many of the graduates have already accepted job offers. She said they have as many as 10 jobs offers for every graduate.
During the ceremony, Hernán congratulated his wife, Rachel, for being selected as one of San Diego’s 50 Most Influential Women over 50 in July.
After the graduation ceremony, Adam Jacobs, Director of Marketing of WFW, showed me around. I was pleased to see that they had expanded since my last visit by acquiring an adjacent building on the corner. The additional space houses a kitchen, dining room/classroom, bathroom, and dressing room full of donated suits for the graduates to wear for interviews.
I asked Adam how WFW had fared during the COVID pandemic lockdowns. He said, “In response to COVID, the Workshops for Warriors team acted with military precision in 2020 and adapted our programs to a remote learning infrastructure in a single weekend. Practical training was shifted to isolated individual instruction at staggered times, incorporating extensive PPE and cleaning protocols.
We remained open, operational and safe during the pandemic.”
Afterward, I got an update from Hernán on some issues I had written about in previous articles. In my article of January 2017, Hernan said “it is a five step process to receive Federal funding, and we are in the middle of step 4 (Operate as a licensed school for 2 years and pass BPPE audit). We hope to be able to accept Federal funding by April 2019.”
Hernán said, “This did happen, earlier than we expected. In 2018, Workshops for Warriors received approval from the Veterans Affairs Administration to accept federal monies for authorized students. This allows students that have GI Bill benefits to use their benefits for the Workshops for Warriors training.”
In my article about the gala event on the Midway that I attended in 2017, I wrote that Hernán said, “Workshops for Warriors’ Capital Campaign is underway, with a goal of raising $21 million to build a new facility that can accommodate ten times as many students as are currently enrolled.” I asked Hernán how much money had been raised for the capital campaign, and he replied, “We have raised all but $6.2M of the required funds and are working with some key donors to fund the final portion. Your readers are welcome to submit their donations to help us reach our goal at: https://donate.wfw.org/give/287011/#!/donation/checkout?c_src=webprimarymenu ”
Hernán explained that they have spent Capital Campaign funds on Capital Campaign related expenses such as:
- Land Acquisition
- Architect & Engineer fees
- Environmental Compliance fees
- Permits, Fees, Surveys, & Assessments
- Insurance
- Site and Construction Appraisals
- Site Preparation and Development
- Site and Facility Maintenance
- Marketing & Advertising
- Legal
- Project Management
He said that the rest of the Capital Campaign money is reserved for:
- Demolition (expected to start on or about 30 November 2022)
- Grading and Shoring
- The construction of the building itself
- Tenant improvements
- Acquisition and installation of the required FF&E (Furniture Fixtures, and Equipment) required to run the school
I asked when the groundbreaking will occur that he mentioned during the ceremony. He replied, “We are excited to share that we are finally breaking ground on the Capital Campaign project we have been working on since 2017. The groundbreaking event will be held on or before the 30th of November. We are demolishing four existing buildings in order to begin grading and shoring for a new 25,000 sq. ft. facility that is expected to be operational by April 2024. We have some key elected officials attending so due to security concerns, I can’t give out the exact date yet. However, I am happy to let you know within a day or so of the event if you are interested in attending.” I told him I would try to be at the groundbreaking event if at all possible.
More good news has happened since the graduation ceremony. Hernán told me that on September 6th, Ms. Isabella Casillas Guzman, the head of the U. S. Small Business Administration, toured their facility when she was in San Diego to meet with local leaders and entrepreneurs to discuss Federal programs that would help the region. He said that during her visit, “she presented me with the award for “Best Small Business Person in California for 2022.” I congratulated him on receiving this honor and told him he deserved the award for the important work he has been doing in training veterans for good jobs in the manufacturing industry and that the expansion of his training program will be a big help in filling the skills gap in the U.S.
