Shiawassee County Skill Share

I am thinking about throwing together a skill share for PC repair and desktop support. The idea is to help out the people who need to develop a new job skill. There’s a post up on the Shiawassee Forums, where I go into detail about the idea. Here’s the meat of the post:

The classes would be free to the students, but they would have to meet certain criteria:

Be a Shiawassee resident

Be unemployed or underemployed

Be ineligible for any other kind of free education or skills training, and be unable to afford conventional training. In other words, I don’t want someone who can afford to take a proper class to take a seat from someone who cannot.

Have no advanced knowledge of the subject matter. (I don’t want to waste my time entertaining someone who knows everything and just wants a refresher)

Be able to take good notes, because we won’t have text books

Be willing & able to take the A+ certification test within a few weeks of the class, so that they will have improved their chances at getting a job in the IT field.

Here’s what I would need:

A location with tables and a white board or a smart board

Donated computers and computer parts (they don’t have to be new, but modern would be nice)

People who would be interested in helping me teach, either with presentations or assisting with the hands on labs

Here’s what I would like some rich person to do:

Buy 1 textbook for each student

Sponsor each student’s A+ test

In short, the goal of the skill share would be to prep students for the A+ Certification tests. I would want them to take the tests after they finished the class, so that they would improve their chances of getting a job in the IT field. I’m a big believer in self-actualization and education for education’s sake, but my purpose for doing this would be to help people get jobs. Period.

I have two big concerns with starting a program like this. First, am I duplicating other efforts? I am not an expert on job training programs, so I don’t know what’s out there. If there is no need for something like this, then I don’t want to do it. I’m really only interested in helping people who can’t get help elsewhere.

Second, will people really take the class and follow through with the A+ tests? I can’t make them do it, and I certainly can’t afford to pay for their tests personally. Since I wouldn’t be getting any sort of compensation for organizing and teaching the class, my only reward (which is reward enough) would be that the effort would improve someone’s life. If that’s not going to happen, I just don’t want to do the work. I’ve got plenty to keep me busy already. Not to mention that I’d feel like an absolute failure if I went through all of that work and nobody got anything out of it.

Fear of failure won’t keep me from launching the project though. (I’ve failed so often that I no longer fear it!) I think it’s a good idea and if done right, it could help some people get a second chance on life. The economy is in rough shape, and here in Shiawassee we’ve been suffering longer than most. We’re in for some rough weather ahead and I think it’s time we face the fact that we’ve only got each other to help us get through it. If this works out, I’d like to see other skill share programs kick in … maybe classes to teach people how to repair small engines or appliances, or how to sew, or how to grow their own food. Classes that will help people find jobs or be more self-sufficient.

The concept is very much in its infancy, and might go over as well as all my other great Shiawassee ideas. (Remember the idea for Shiawassee bucks?!?!) *groan*

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, even if you don’t like the idea. Feel free to leave me a note in the comments, email me, or stop by the Shiawassee Forums.