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 are no "education-focused" mkaerspaces that offer 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 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 "education-focused," membership-based, makerspaces. We need these places to learn and use hands-on skills!
 

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 everyone the equipment, facilities, and techniques necessary to design, learn and build whatever is desired.

What separates Vocademy from other makerspaces are the many hands-on skills classes which are not taught anywhere else. These classes, taught in a safe environment by experienced instructors, benefit both those looking to learn new personal skills, and those wanting to make themselves more marketable to the working world.

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 successfully complete the necessary classes, you may come to Vocademy and use the skills and tools you have been taught!

"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 knowledge, the equipment, the facilities, the techniques, and the instructors.

This is a complete DIT (Do It Together) workshop. 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 is 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 shop class for everyone, a business incubator, a co-working lab, a hobby garage, and much, much more.

www.VOCADEMY.com

www.Facebook.com/VocademyUSA

Vocademy is located in the heart of the Inland Empire, only a mile away from UC Riverside. An ideal central location that draws from local schools, communities and nearby cities.  Having hundreds of people coming and going on a regular basis also boosts the economy. Our nearby schools, raw materials suppliers, restaurants, and partner businesses all benefit. 

Vocademy’s many and diverse classes are available to anyone (members AND non-members). We offer more than a dozen different subjects (each on several different levels of expertise), including machine shop, 3D printing, sewing, welding, electronics, robotics, laser cutting and much more.  Our instructors will be industry professionals (former and current), and people with real-world experience. The classes focus on real-world and pratical knowledge.

We have FREE intorductory classes in every subject that we offer.

As previously mentioned, for those looking to go in-depth on a topic, Vocademy will has more advanced classes in just about every subject.  They 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 one-off classes and “weekend workshops.”  These will be helpful to students who are coming long distances, or have limited availability.  We also offer some very unique special-subject classes with guest instructors. Topics will range from making your own bio-diesel, to lockpicking, primitive skills, and more.

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