May 2017 ISSUE
Workshops for Warriors' 
Monthly Newsletter
Welcome to the very first Workshops for Warriors Monthly Newsletter! If you want to continue to receive quarterly newsletters and not the new monthly newsletter, just reply to this email and let us know.

If you like what you're reading, connect with us on  social media   or consider donating in order to help give those who served our country a clearer path to success upon leaving the Military. Our Veteran's Salute You!

The mission of Workshops for Warriors, a 501(c)3 nonprofit school, is to provide a nationally scalable and repeatable platform to provide quality training, 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. More information is available at www.wfwusa.org.

In This Issue
Workshops for Warriors' Inaugural Gala was a Huge Success!
 
Workshops for Warriors' Inaugural Gala honoring our Nation's Veterans, Wounded Warriors, and Transitioning Service Members was a huge success. The historic USS Midway was the perfect backdrop for a night of inspiring speakers, graduate stories, a silent auction, and more. We are honored and humbled by the tremendous support we received from the Gala and appreciate each and every person who celebrated with us.

You can full a full album of the event here. And don't forget:

Save the Date for Workshops for Warriors' Second Annual Gala and 
10 Year Anniversary Celebration on Thursday, April 05, 2018.

   
   
Workshops for Warriors Graduates 57 Veterans, Wounded Warriors, and Transitioning Service Members at our Spring Graduation Ceremony
 
Our Graduation Ceremony was another huge success with the welders earning an average of 5 welding qualifications accredited by the American Welding Society (AWS) and the machinists earning between 10 and 15 nationally recognized credentials from SolidWorks, Mastercam University, the National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS), Immerse2Learn, and the National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3).

NBC7 News was there as each graduate accepted his/her certification. Watch the coverage below:

'Purpose Again': Wounded US Marine Graduates Workshop Alongside 57 Veterans
'Purpose Again': Wounded US Marine Graduates Workshop Alongside 57 Veterans
 

Support Workshops for Warriors with Coin Up!

Workshops for Warriors is now participating with the app Coin Up. Here is how it works: 
  • Download the app to your phone by searching for Coin Up in your app store. Or, you can find the download link here.
  • Select "Workshops for Warriors"
  • Enter in your credit card information. 
  • Select a cap amount per month. 
This will then automatically round-up and donate the spare change with every debit or credit card purchase you make and donate it to Workshops for Warriors. You choose where to cap your amounts, so you can donate per month and give just by donating your spare change.  Learn more at https://www.coinupapp.com/


Veteran Success Story: Dwayne Found Welding through Workshops for Warriors

"My thought process was already built. I have a wife and a son so I have two extra mouths to feed. I wanted to get a job right out of the Marine Corps. So that's enough incentive for any. I heard about [Workshops for Warriors] from one of my buddies who said he loved this course and that I should ask first sergeant if I could go, so I looked into it and on the website." He added,

"The programs and the success rates for jobs after completion really sparked my interest. I live in one of the poorest parts of the country, so you don't really make any money here. Machining and welding are trades that allow me to be able to support family and be home every night, so I always thought of this as a potential career. I really liked the military, but that is really the stability I wanted for my family once I transitioned out."

Blake is a Marine Corps Veteran who moved back to  Mulberry Missouri and found work as a CNC Laser Machinist at Mack Hils Metal Fabrication upon graduating. You can read Blake's full story below:
Hit MAVTV Series TITANS of CNC Visits Workshops for Warriors

Titan Gilroy, CEO and star of the hit MAVTV series Titans of CNC, visited Workshops for Warriors to see first-hand how Veterans and Transitioning Service Members are changing the advanced manufacturing industry and filling the skills gap. Hernán informed Titan, "You get out of the service and you take off your uniform, and you trade in your machine gun for a micrometer and you serve again in America's manufacturing force." 

Click below to watch the clip and see a brief tour of our facility, hear from Workshops for Warriors Founder & CEO, Hernán Luis y Prado, COO and Chief Academic Officer, Rachel Luis y Prado, and past machining and welding students.
        
TITAN visits Workshops for Warriors
TITAN visits Workshops for Warriors

FAB Shop Magazine Direct: Education of a Devil Dog

        
FAB Shop Direct Magazine published a wonderful cover story highlighting Workshops for Warriors, including voices from  Dowding Industries,  AMADA AMERICA, INC., and  Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. The real story, though, covers a Workshops for Warriors welding alumnus who received a living stipend from Workshops for Warriors donors, giving him the chance to find a new path after leaving the Military. He says in the article, "I often asked myself, if I'm not a Marine fighter and leader serving God, Country, and Corps, then who am I?"

Read the full story here.




The Advanced Manufacturing Landscape
CBS News Reports: Want great maternity leave? Become an ironworker

I ronworking isn't a job typically associated with top-notch perks. Yet the relatively small number of women in the trade now have something in common with workers at some marquee Silicon Valley firms. And it's not free lattes or laundry service.

Women ironworkers now enjoy one of the most generous maternity leave programs in the country: Six months of leave prior to delivery and up to eight weeks afterward. While on leave, they receive about two-thirds of their regular weekly income, up to $800 per week.

Read the full article here.


Recruitment Challenges Continue to Vex Innovation Employers

The labor market continues to tighten for two job classifications important to San Diego County's innovation economy: engineers and skilled manufacturing workers. 

Local recruiters say the good news is managers can do a lot of things at little or no cost to improve their hiring success -- if they're willing to make certain adjustments to their screening process, work environment and approach to training. 

One measure of the challenge ahead is the disproportionate growth expected for San Diego as compared with the rest of the country. According to Kelly, local employment in engineering is expected to expand 6.5 percent between 2015 and 2020 -- 2 points faster than the national average.  Read the full article here .


Apple to spend $1 billion for advanced manufacturing


Apple intends to invest in programs that can train workers how to code, Apple CEO Tim Cook said. But that much of the money for this effort will be borrowed rather than drawn from its substantial cash reserves.

Cook has spoken previously about the shortage of U.S. workers who can perform advanced manufacturing. Advanced manufacturing differs from typical manufacturing in that it often requires specialized skills to produce highly engineered components that go into Apple's products.

"The U.S., over time, began to stop having as many vocational kind of skills," Cook told "60 Minutes" in 2015. "I mean, you can take every tool-and-die maker in the United States and probably put them in a room that we're currently sitting in.  Read the full article  here .



Questions, comments or suggestions for this newsletter or about Workshops for Warriors? Email Marketing Manager Amanda DiSilvestro at [email protected]