Guest Blog,

Workshops for Warriors Brings Skilled Talent to Advanced Manufacturing

By FABTECH Expo on on August 29, 2016

In some situations, our Service Members experience four months of training for Military life but only four days of training for the transition back to civilian life. Despite efforts to change this reality, we have a long way to go in offering our Veterans and Transitioning Service Members a clear path to career success once they exit the Service. Because many of our Veterans and Service Members have families to support, it can be difficult to earn a meaningful education while still having to work a full time job. This forces these individuals to focus on survival over school. After moving in one unified tapestry with the Military, always knowing their purpose and their next assignment, the transition to civilian life comes with obstacles that only a Veteran would understand. That is where Workshops for Warriors comes into play—and the advanced manufacturing industry is reaping the benefits just as much as our Veterans. Workshops for Warriors’ Training Center Offers Portable, Stackable Nationally Recognized Advanced Manufacturing Credentials Workshops for Warriors is a nonprofit training center that trains and certifies Veterans, Wounded Warriors, and Transitioning Service members into advanced manufacturing careers. Founder and CEO, Hernán Luis y Prado, a 15-year combat Veteran, set out to create this clear path to career and financial success that was missing in the Veteran community. He found that advanced manufacturing was the perfect fit. With 2.3 million advanced manufacturing jobs set to go unfilled due to lack of skilled labor, in addition to a retiring workforce with a median age of 59, this industry needed a solution. Workshops for Warriors created that solution by training our Veterans in both machining and welding. Below is a video where Luis y Prado talks about his experience starting the school:

Workshops for Warriors offers two courses of study, machining and welding, through 16-week accelerated programs. Courses include welding and fabrication, CAD/CAM programming, and CNC Machining (CNC milling, CNC turning, CNC laser, and CNC waterjet). The Veterans in the program receive Nationally recognized portable and stackable credentials through The National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS), the American Welding Society (AWS), SolidWorks, Mastercam University, Immerse2Learn, and the National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3). Believe it or not, Workshops for Warriors is the only Nationally Viable Advanced Manufacturing Training Pipeline for Veterans in the Nation. The training center can be replicated all across the United States, and Luis y Prado has plans in place to make that a reality. As a nonprofit, their biggest challenge is funding. The Future of Workshops for Warriors and Why the Advanced Manufacturing Industry Needs to Band Together to Help Workshops for Warriors’ programs are completely free to all Veterans, Wounded Warriors, and Transitioning Service Members. We spoke with Chief Operating Officer, Rachel Luis y Prado, who explained some of the hurdles the school faces. “For our school to be able to accept the GI Bill benefits from students, the application process takes eight years. We are currently in year six, which means in January 2019 we will be able to accept these benefits.” Luis y Prado added, “Because we accept no federal, state, or municipal funding, we rely on corporate and private donations. It costs us $12,000 per student per semester to put them through our program, and 83% of all donations go straight to training programs. We see many advanced manufacturing companies investing in their industry through our students, and thanks to donors such as The Gene Haas Foundation, Reliance Steel & Aluminum Company, and more, we can continue to support more Veterans each and every semester. We have three semesters per year, and our last semester’s graduating class was 43 students.”

Workshops for Warriors’ training center graduates 43 Veterans, Wounded Warriors, and Transitioning Service members into advanced manufacturing careers on August 19, 2016.

Workshops for Warriors teaches on $6 million dollars worth of cutting-edge equipment and employs award-winning instructors thanks to their donors as well as help from their social enterprise company, VetPowered, LLC. Workshops for Warriors’ website also tells the stories of their alumni. Many of the stories highlight the benefits that going to school with other Veterans has on their transition or overall success in the program. It allows them to go to school in an environment where they feel comfortable and can ease into a career in the civilian sector. You can read more of these stories on their website here. Your Turn Funding is crucial to the success of Workshops for Warriors. You can help support Workshops for Warriors by donating to help offset the cost of training this highly-qualified workforce, or by donating to their Capital Campaign that aims to grow their facility to train almost 5X as many students per year (that’s 500 instead of the current 150). Help spread the word about Workshops for Warriors, and let’s bring advanced manufacturing back to America, one Veteran at a time! Check out their website at wfwusa.org and the feature video below to learn more and hear from founder and CEO, Hernán Luis y Prado at FABTECH 2016 in session F64: Manufacturing Workforce: Veterans, Skilled Labor and Resources for Dedicated Employees.

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