Unique Adult and Community Education Programs

 Responsibilities: 

• Antonette Payne: Initial Research, Introduction, Table
• Katie Ferguson: Comparisons, Implications

Comments

• Antonette commented on: Group 1 and Group2
• Katie commented on: Group 1 and Group 2 

Unique Adult/Community Education Programs:

Blue Jacket, INC. and SCORE

Antonette Payne and Katie Ferguson

Ball State University

Introduction

            For this project, we chose two organizations based on their unique way of providing adults with education and mentoring toward job and business training. While both organizations target different audiences they both have the central theme of improving the American job market through job skills, training and job creation.

Blue Jacket, Inc.

Blue Jacket Inc. is a non-profit organization with the mission “To provide adult ex-offenders the tools and opportunities to become productive members of society”. It is located in Fort Wayne, Indiana and began as a pilot program for Allen County Community Corrections in 2003. By 2005, the program became a separate incorporated 501C3 non-profit organization. It was named after the Shawnee Chief Blue Jacket who was considered a great war chief, entrepreneur, and diplomat (Blue Jacket Inc., 2014). 

Blue Jacket Inc.’s educational purposes are centered on both helping individuals find employment and to “fill the gap in local workforce programs and services.” One of the ways it achieves this purpose is through its Career Academy. The Career Academy is 60-hours over four weeks. During the Academy, participants learn job readiness training and skills in education, skills and interest assessments, and personal and professional development. 

The educational perspective of the program is that by preparing and educating individuals they can become marketable in the workforce. The Career Academy does this by teaching participants skills such as but not limited to: making a good first impression, setting goals, improving job searching strategies, filling out applications, appropriately discussing criminal background, resume building, writing cover letters and developing a reference sheet. Participants also participate in mock interviews, financial training to improve budgeting and money management, and hands-on simulated work projects. Once participants graduate from the Career Academy they can enroll in Blue Jacket’s in-house staffing agency (Blue Jacket Inc., 2014).

Originally, Blue Jacket, Inc. targeted learners who had felonies or misdemeanors on their criminal record, the organization has since expanded to include anyone who would be considered difficult to employ. In addition to the direct participants, Blue Jacket Inc. provides consulting services to other organizations and jurisdictions seeking to develop similar programs or help similar participants.

SCORE Association (SCORE)

            Score is a non-profit organization headquartered in Herndon Virginia but with over 340 chapters throughout the United States and its territories. The mission of SCORE is “to grow small businesses across America, one business at a time.” SCORE achieves its mission through offering mentorships and education to small businesses.  SCORE began in 1964 and has since helped over 10 million businesses and is a resource partner with the Small Business Administration (SCORE Association, 2014). SCORE learners are varied but are all business owners or would-be business owners seeking mentoring and/or other assistance with setting up and growing their business.

            The educational purpose of SCORE is to help small businesses start-up and grow. SCORE uses over 13,000 volunteers across the country to achieve this goal. They provide in-person mentoring sessions at local SCORE chapters, on-line webinars on business strategies and practices (both live and pre-recorded), and private business counseling via email or telephone. SCORE’s local chapters also put on various workshops on different topics throughout the year. In addition, SCORE makes available a newsletter and online links to helpful business tools and templates.

            The educational perspective of SCORE is best demonstrated through their business model of using volunteers from the business community to mentor and lead workshops. This form of peer-based learning is key to its success as it pairs new entrepreneurs with experienced business leaders. It is also demonstrated in the listing of benefits to being a volunteer, “lifelong learning.” It affirms the idea that learning is on-going and that it can be achieved in various mediums (online or in-person, self-directed or lead).

             

Comparisons

Similarities

            SCORE and Blue Jacket, Inc. share many similarities in their mission and educational choices. Both of these programs would be considered non-formal learning according Fordham’s (1993) definition because both are organized outside of institutionalized education have a very defined, specific purpose for the learner. Secondly, both SCORE and Blue Jacket, Inc. share a similar vision which is to improve the American workforce and marketplace by offering education and training. By offering education to the business owners and the “hard to employ” workers, both programs make positive impacts on the economy and workforce. In order to achieve the mission set forth by each of these programs, the organizations utilize community resources such as individual volunteers, leaders in the community, and businesses. This is a smart move for each program both financially and socially. By utilizing members of the community, each program gains networking opportunities for the learner.  Finally, the participants of each program share a common goal. Participants in SCORE and Blue Jacket, Inc.’s Career Academy are seeking to improve themselves in some way, as a business owner, as a marketable employee, or trustworthy person.

Differences

            Although both programs share several similarities, they also have organizational and educational aspects that make them unique. One of these aspects include the way information is delivered to learners. At Blue Jacket Inc. learners enroll in a 60 hour program that is led by an instructor. This is a more traditional type of learning where the teacher is the expert giving information to the learner. The program is pre-designed, structured curriculum based off of calculated needs of the learners. SCORE, on the other hand, does not have a pre-designed curriculum. SCORE offers workshops, online tools and resources, and self-guided paths that allow learners to pick and choose which educational tools would best benefit him or her. At Blue Jacket, Inc. learners are given a set time frame and program length. Learners also graduate the program. Learners that participate in SCORE have the opportunity to learn at any time and can come back to the program as often as needed. This is seemingly due to the nature of the learner in each program. Blue Jacket, Inc. learners may need more structure and guidance due to their past experiences that show lack of good decision making skills. Whereas, learners that participate in SCORE are more likely to take responsibility for their own learning and need a flexible time schedule due to business demands on time. These differences in instruction make sense due to the target audience of each program. Educators have clearly evaluated the strengths, weaknesses, and needs of the learners they wish to educate in the creation of these two programs.

Implications

            The programs studied above offer many insights to adult educators designing programs. First, from Blue Jacket, Inc. educators can learn to think creatively to solve solutions to problems. Blue Jacket, Inc. saw an opportunity to help a hard to employ individuals and improve the community by filling jobs. Also, offenders are less likely to become repeat offenders if they have a stable job and can feel valued as a productive member of the community. This also could help reduce poverty in local communities by providing jobs to those who were previously unemployed. SCORE teaches adult educators to not fear calling upon members of the community to volunteer to serve as educators and experts for others. This program forms relationships with members of the community and promotes leadership and growth using resources within the community. Both programs teach educators to find opportunities to improve the community in which one lives. Education is tool that can be used to gain social capital and make communities better places to live. These programs serve the people of the community in order to improve the community. Education is the means to obtain a better life for individuals.

Table 1. Summary of Unique Adult Education Programs

	Blue Jacket, Inc.	SCORE
Locations	Fort Wayne, IN	Multiple Cities/States but headquartered in Herndon, VA.
Educational Purpose	To assist persons with criminal records and other hard to employ persons with job readiness skills and assistance.	The purpose of the program is to provide assistance through education, mentorship, and counseling to small business owners so that their businesses will grow.
Educational Perspectives	With training and education, any person can become an active member of the workforce.	Learning through peers
Learners	Ex-offenders and hard to employ persons	Any small business in need of assistance in getting started or becoming more profitable.
How was the program organized	The program was organized as a pilot program for Allen County Community Corrections. It later became a separate non-profit organization.	The program is a resource partner to the Small Business Administration and utilizes over 13000 volunteers to achieve its mission.
Why were they organized differently/similarly	They have similar goals of helping people help themselves by developing specific marketable skills. Blue Jacket, Inc. is organized in a more structured way because the learners need more hands-on assistance.	They are different in the approach they use to meet learners’ needs. SCORE is more self-directed based learning as they have tools available online, in person, or through counseling and mentoring.
Implications	This program helps provide a ready and capable workforce from workers who may have been traditionally overlooked. It has further implications on reduction of poverty and repeat offenders.	With an emphasis on developing small business, the implication is for greater job creation as these small businesses become successful. Educators can learn how to utilize and call upon members of the community to help educate. Educators should put resources into educating members of the community to create a better place to live for all.

References

Blue Jacket Inc. (2014, March 1). Retrieved from Blue Jacket Inc.: http://www.bluejacketinc.org/about

Blue Jacket Inc. (2014, March 1). Career Academy. Retrieved from Blue Jacket Inc.: http://www.bluejacketinc.org/training/career-academy

Fordham, P. E. (1993). Informal, non-formal and formal education programmes in YMCA George Williams College. ICE301 Lifelong Learning Unit 2. London: YMCA George Williams College.

SCORE Association. (2014, 1 March). About Us. Retrieved from SCORE.Org: http://www.score.org/about-score