Spring 2019
SMI Donates $10,000 to Pomona Adult and Career Education. In collaboration with the Centers for Applied Competitive Technology, we provided a donation to help preserve and support their Industrial Technical Programs.
Fall 2018
College of the Sequoias – SMI had invested over $100,000 and significant consulting time in opening a manufacturing facility in the Central Valley region in 2008. When the program could no longer find an instructor to run the program, in 2018, it was decided to close the program and sell off the contents. SMI Board Member John Chocholak negotiated an opportunity where SMI inventoried the facility and arranged and paid for the relocation of all the contents. The project ended up distributing almost $750,000 in equipment and supplies to 11 schools throughout California. These are foundational programs SMI undertakes to preserve existing resources that serve manufacturers and communities.
Fall 2017
SMI and SMA work with LAUSD to develop and write a proposal to reopen Van Nuys Middle School (VNMS) shop that has been closed for over 10 years. The successful proposal creates a manufacturing “makers space” where students ages 12-14 will learn mechanical skills that will coincide with the existing manufacturing academy at Van Nuys High School. Opening in the 2019-2020 school year, this is the first middle-high school feeder program in LAUSD that will link programs that will mature mechanical aptitudes local students.
This new VNMS program is a major component in building a permanent solution to the skills shortage manufacturers face. SMI and SMA in collaboration with the National Tooling and Machining Association committed more than $750,000 of in-kind contribution to create the original Van Nuys High School Manufacturing Academy in 1996. The continued support from NTMA, SMA, SMI, local companies and Los Angeles Valley College is a model for rebuilding industrial technical programs.
Spring 2016
When Boeing made the decision to close down their Long Beach C-17 facility, there was significant amount of equipment and supplies paid for by the of Defense (public dollars). Through SMA's contacts within the Department of Commerce, at the highest levels Boeing was encouraged to turn over all remaining supplies and equipment from the C-17 closure to SMI. The resulting process was the distribution of almost $1.5M of equipment and supplies to over 27 California schools. The impact from hundreds of hours of SMI staff administration and intermediary work made an enormous impact on helping schools modernize and sustain programs.
2015
Each region in the State has its specific needs and SMI ready and equipped to address manufacturers and schools’ mutual needs. Working with the California Industrial and Technology Educator's Association (CITEA), SMI was able to procure donations from 3000 Kohler gasoline engines and 500 Briggs and Stratton gasoline engines for use in high schools and community colleges throughout the State. SMI paid for three truckloads of engines, picking them up in the Mid-West and delivering them to different areas of California.