The Education Exchange

by Ronald G. Shapiro, Ph.D.

As part of a series focusing on Rhode Island small businesses whose mission includes helping organizations, their owners and employees grow throughout 2016, we turn to The Education Exchange. The Education Exchange is a not-for-profit 501c (3) organization, established in 1978 and located in Peace Dale, Rhode Island. To date they have helped over 20,000 students!

The mission of the exchange is to prepare adult learners from diverse backgrounds to be productive employees and/or successful students in vocational or college programs. Their course offerings include basic literacy, communication, General Education Development (GED, High School Equivalency Exam) preparation and testing, English as a Second Language (ESL), workplace readiness (“soft”) and numerous computer skills.   Their lab based computer class offerings include Microsoft Office® and QuickBooks™ training.

While the primary focus of The Education Exchange is preparing people for work and further education, small business owners may also benefit from the exchange technology offerings which prepare people for certification exams, the customer service offerings, which improve customer focus, or any of the other offerings.   They will even rent out their computer lab for other educational needs, and will offer to help to find an instructor, too! Funds raised from these business services, along with grants, support the workforce preparation programs.

When I spoke with executive director Cameron Ennis he was most excited to tell me about their new Real Jobs RI aquaculture grant to train Rhode Islanders to farm oysters. This program should help to boost productivity of oyster farming as well as provide interesting job opportunities. Part of the oyster farming curriculum includes a food safety course and a serve-safe alcohol certification class. Both the food safety and the alcohol certification classes are also offered to restaurant owners as a convenient and cost effective way to provide mandatory training for their staff.

In his role as the Executive Director of the exchange Cameron has noticed the need for small business owners and managers to identify employees education needs, draft plans (with dates) to fulfill these plans, and review these plans at least once per quarter in staff meetings and 1: 1 manager: employee discussions. Cameron recommends that these development plans focus on:

• Learning technology which may improve business productivity.
• Improving customer relations/customer service skills for all employees who interact with customers.
• Achieving certification needs for relevant employees.
• Cross training employees to minimize impact of employee illness or departure from the business and to provide employees with job variety (which may improve job satisfaction and consequently employee retention).
• Training to help the business grow.

Need a professional recommendation? Feel free to contact Cameron Ennis (CEnnis@edexri.org, 401.783.0293) for personalized recommendations for your business or personal education needs. Visit http://edexri.org for more information.

Dr. Ronald G. Shapiro is an Independent Consultant in Human Factors Learning and Human Resources.
A special thank you to Industrial Consultant Dr. Margarita Posada Cossuto for helpful comments.

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