To learn more about the future of Vocademy and potential partnership opportunities click here

• 6 months of planning and 3 years of dreaming
• 30 days of campaigning and I apologize for ALL the spam.
• $61,981 raised! Thats 155% of our goal!
• Reached 100% of funding in 4 days!  A Fundable.com record!
• 96 AMAZING Backers. That's YOU! I need to order more shirts now!

and Vocademy would not be possible without our 
group of dedicated volunteeers!

• Sharyn S - #1 Supporter
• Rajan K - Sage Adviser
• Dylan H - Right Hand Man
• John R - Master of the Digital
• Dale H - Apprentice & Engineer
• Luke D – All Knowing Ninja
• Linda J - Database MC
• Lauren G - Graphic Artist
• Dave S - Business Adviser
• Dennis Y - Volunteer Woodsman
• Robert R - Logo Designer
• Wyatt & Rachael - Connectors
• Sallia G - Ambassador Extraordinaire
• and more.......

The professionals:

• Ed Gutentag - Cinematographer Supreme
  www.EdGutentag.com
• Oleg Mokhov - Provider of Awesome Music
  www.Mokhov.net

• And Tom S. - the spark that ignited this fire!

For the past few years, we have been holding classes in our tiny 1,500 square foot shop. Our vision to provide a place where people can learn and practice important hands-on skills has not wavered.  We are convinced, that to meet the needs of our current students, while providing space for those yet to come, we must have the correct size facility and resources!

With your help and support we have achieved our minimum level in just FOUR days!  But now we need to keep going because every additional dollar will go to equipment and facility upgrades.

At $40,000 level: WE DID IT!

1. Pay the deposit and three months' rent on our ideal facility.
2. Moving the $60,000 of our existing equipment into the facility.
3. Install up to 10,000 sqft of carpeting we already own.
4. Basic facility upgrades (paint, networking, big doors & electricity).
5. Open our doors for business and start signing up additional members!

 At $50,000 level we will:  WE DID IT!

1. Purchase three state-of-the-art 3D printers.
2. Purchase computers dedicated to these printers.
3. Immediately start to offer classes in 3D printing and CAD!
4. Hire a small, part-time staff for day-to-day operations.

At $60,000 level we will: WE DID IT!

1. Lease a large laser cutting / engraving machine.
2. Purchase electronics & robotics lab equipment.
3. Continue facility upgrades (classrooms, air lines, etc.).
4. Buy raw materials to build our own work tables.

If we raise $70,000 it will enable us to:

1. Purchase and/or lease more woodshop equipment.
2. Purchase and/or lease more fabricatioon equipment.
3. Outfit our classrooms with desks, chairs and smartboards.
4. Purchase 20 CAD/CAM computer workstations.

If we raise $100,000 it will enable us to:

1. Purchase and/or lease a CNC wood router.
2. Purchase and/or lease a 2x2 CNC Plasma cutter.
3. Buy raw materials to make more of our own furniture.
4. Continue to purchase more of the most popular equipment.

Over the past decade, we have witnessed the demise of hands-on skills being taught in this country. This is not for lack of people who want or need these skills and knowledge, but for lack of a place to learn and practice them.  Throughout the years, we have met many men and women (of all ages) who desperately wanted access to a workshop where they could learn these skills. However, in most businesses or school workshops, access is limited to a few select people. There is no place in the Inland Empire that offers a wide variety of hands-on classes in a safe, casual environment, with a convenient schedule (7-days a week), and the space and/or equipment to work on projects. While there are clubs for specific interests (RC models, robotics, woodworking), none in the IE are for the general public, students, inventors, and innovators to collaborate, learn, and create together.

For these reasons, there is a clear need for an open-access, membership-based workshop (aka, makerspace) in the Inland Empire. We need a place to learn and use hands-on skills!

 

The solution is...Vocademy!

Vocademy is founded on the premise that designing and building your own projects provides a level of satisfaction unmatched by other activities.

Vocademy seeks to capitalize upon this by offering its members the equipment, facilities, and techniques necessary to design, learn and build whatever is desired.

Vocademy provides many hands-on skills classes which are not taught anywhere else. These classes, taught in a safe environment by experienced instructors, will benefit both those looking to learn new personal skills, and those wanting to pursue vocational employment opportunities.

Vocademy allows you to choose between learning just the basics, or learning everything about a specific skill set.  It's up to you which classes you take and when. Once you enroll and successfully complete the Safety Course, you may come to Vocademy and use those skills and tools!

"Vocademy is an ideal solution to assist in training Riverside’s
ever-growing skilled labor force and entrepreneurial community." 
Rusty Bailey, Mayor of Riverside

This means a learning environment, a place to make things, and a community of like-minded people. To be capable human beings, we need to know how to use our minds AND our hands. Using tools has been a part of our history, our evolution as a species.  We cannot lose those abilities; otherwise we risk becoming too dependent on others.  Major advantages of Vocademy are: no age limit, no benefit to being male vs. female, and no need for advanced degrees. You supply the desire to learn and some raw materials.  We’ll supply the equipment, facilities, techniques, and instructors.

This is a complete DIY or DIT (Do It Together) workshop. Envision a building full of instructors, mentors, equipment, supplies, tools, and most importantly, you!  Show up; take some classes; then make whatever your heart desires. Restore a motorcycle, print 3D parts, machine a widget, carve a wooden sword, build a battlebot, or sew a dress.  We want to create a “community of makers!”

This is YOUR place, where you can meet imaginative people and create amazing things. Vocademy will be a melting pot of many talents and skills.  People can come together, take an idea, make a prototype, and perhaps create “the next big thing.”  We are a business incubator, a co-working lab, a hobby garage, and much more.

www.VOCADEMY.com

www.Facebook.com/VocademyUSA

You choose what you do with your reward:

1. Donate and don't take rewards. We will use every dollar to improve Vocademy.
2. Donate, and use your rewards for yourself.
3. Donate, and give your rewards as a gift to whomever you choose.

Pledge $50+ and get one of these awesome Limited Edition T-Shirts

Pledge of $300+ and have your name added to
our Charter Member Wall Plaque

Pledge $10,000+ and get a custom made, solid aluminum,
Life Member gear on our GEAR WALL. A rotating piece of art!

Becoming a Life Member is the ultimate statement of your support

for Vocademy. You would become a permanent part of our Maker Family!

Our Current Location:  For the past several years, I have taught small, Friday night classes in my own 1,500 square foot shop, and the demand for them has increased considerably!  We need access to a larger facility, which means that we need to move to grow!

The Ideal Location. We recognize that this is one of the very important parts of Vocademy’s success.  Recently, we discovered the opportunity to lease an ideal 15,000 square foot building in the perfect location. This facility is located within one mile of UC Riverside, near the interchange of the 215/91/60 freeways. It is a mix of industrial space with a semi-retail business, much like a gym. Our target building is centrally located, making it easy to draw members from many different population centers, such as Riverside, Moreno Valley, San Bernardino, Corona, Ontario, and Redlands, as well as the rest of the Inland Empire. Providing easy access, creating a spacious, comfortable, safe environment, and having a visual appeal are all critical.

Vocademy next door. Vocademy’s central location will be good for other businesses.  Having hundreds of people coming and going on a regular basis will boost the economy. Our nearby schools, raw materials suppliers, restaurants, and partner businesses all stand to benefit. 

Facility Size & Growth. The nature of the business, the required “build-out,” and the difficulty of moving equipment, combined with the stated interest of students, make starting  Vocademy in a small facility (with the intent to move in a year) totally impractical. The ideal location and right-sized building would prevent the need to relocate in the foreseeable future, if ever, and give us a stable neighborhood identity.  In addition, a correctly-sized location would allow for signing a long-term lease, which benefits the members, Vocademy, and the landlord.  Industry specialists agree that 15,000 square feet is the ideal size for the planned activities.

Vocademy’s many and diverse classes will be available to anyone (members AND non-members). We will offer more than a dozen different subjects (each on several different levels of expertise), including home improvement, machine shop, 3D printing, sewing, welding, electronics, and robotics.  Our instructors will be industry professionals (former and current), people with real-world experience. The classes will focus on our “2080 Concept,” where we teach the “20% of knowledge that you would use 80% of the time.”

As previously mentioned, for those looking to go in-depth on a topic, Vocademy will offer more advanced classes in just about every subject.  They will normally last between one and four hours.  Some may be short, one-session classes, while others may be multiple-session or multi-week (curriculum type) courses, depending on the complexity of the material. Beyond those regularly scheduled, we plan to offer "night owl" and “weekend warrior” classes.  These will be helpful to students who are coming long distances, or have limited availability.  We will also offer some very unique special-subject classes with guest instructors. Topics will range from making your own bio-diesel, to cosplay, primitive skills, and more.

1. No competitors for hundreds of miles. We will be the first and the best!
2. Multiple revenue streams, flexible business model, and many growth opportunities.
3. Creation and maintenance of a strong, vibrant "maker" culture, and community involvment.
4. Utilize existing on-line (and local) communities/groups for marketing and partnerships.
5. Variety of high-value tools, equipment, and instructors, otherwise inaccessible to most people.
6. Availability of modern (real world) hands-on classes, and training methods.
7. Flexible access and use of our facilities to anyone.
8. Providing a work area free from intellectual property demands.
9. Unique logo, branding and merchandising with a strong internet presence.
10. A place where people will want to keep coming back and bringing friends!