“Our students are running real businesses and turning their desire to work with their hands into something that can impact their lives and community, today and in the future.”
-Elyse Burden, Co-Founder of Real World Scholars
Featured Partnership: Harbor Freight EdCorps
Creative Entrepreneurship. Hands-On Learning. Student-Run Businesses.
We partnered with Real World Scholars, a nonprofit that supports K-12 classrooms in developing their own student-run businesses, to create Harbor Freight EdCorps, which teaches students in skilled trades classrooms how to operate online businesses, sell what they make, and invest profits back into their communities. With successful start-ups in Pennsylvania, Tennessee and California, we are proud to support entrepreneurship in the skilled trades by helping students learn what it takes to create and run a thriving business.
Building Beyond the Classroom
Introducing Harbor Freight EdCorps
Episode 1: Golden Oaks Designs
Episode 2: Ivy Fresh
Episode 3: Wyoming 307 Woodworkers
Episode 4: Tree Transformation
Episode 5: Next Generation Sustainable Living
Harbor Freight Leadership Lab
With the Drucker Institute, our partner on the Prize for Teaching Excellence and Let’s Build It, we’re establishing the Harbor Freight Leadership Lab, to support skilled trades education leaders.
SkillsUSA
SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. We fund high schools developing SkillsUSA chapters and scholarships for students traveling to the SkillsUSA National Championships to compete on behalf of their states.
Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship (PAYA)
Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship (PAYA), a multi-year, multi-stakeholder initiative led by New America, supports place- and industry-based efforts to expand access to high-quality apprenticeship opportunities for youth. Harbor Freight Tools for Schools supports PAYA’s work in identifying challenges and opportunities for developing youth apprenticeships and other high-quality work-based learning experiences that prepare young adults for careers in the skilled trades.
Big Picture Learning
Big Picture Learning works with more than 65 schools to create educational pathways that let students be at the center of their learning. With our funding, Big Picture Learning created and operates the Harbor Freight Fellows Initiative, connecting students with mentors in their chosen skilled trade, paid internships and the opportunity to build lasting relationships in their career field.
CTE Foundation Sonoma County
The CTE Foundation Sonoma County’s mission is to innovate the education-to-career experience to strengthen economic development and student achievement. They do this by expanding and enhancing career technical education programs throughout the Sonoma County to align with the economic and workforce development needs of local employers and industries. Their work is guided by a vision that all Sonoma County students have rewarding careers that strengthen their lives, our community, and the economy.