501(c)(3) Workforce Development Program

Learn Real Skills.
Do Real Work. Build a Career.

MarketFoundry Workforce Scholarship Fund trains people in marketable service trades — power washing, landscaping, debris removal, painting, and tree care — by deploying them on real, funded community projects. Participants get paid, learn hands-on skills, and build a verified professional portfolio. Some go on to launch their own service businesses. All leave with real skills and real experience. 100% free through donor-funded scholarships.

See How It Works
6+
Community Projects
In Progress
30+
People
Enrolled
100%
Free to
Apply
$995
Per
Participant
501(c)(3)
Registered
Nonprofit
Hands-On Training

Participants Learn by Doing —
Real Projects, Real Skills

Participants learn by working on real, funded community improvement projects — creek cleanups, trail restoration, and neighborhood beautification. These projects develop the core skills they need to run a business: project planning, crew coordination, time management, client communication, and delivering measurable results.

Before
Stripped bicycle dumped on trail Dumped shopping cart Clothing and debris in brush Plastic in vegetation
After
Crew with collected bags Dumpster full of bags Clean trail Clean fence line
8
Bags Removed
3
Bulky Items Hauled
5
Crew Members
1 of 5
Segments Complete
Crew member pushing recovered shopping cart on trail

Poway Creek Trail Cleanup

A 5-person crew removed 8 bags of trash, a dumped shopping cart, a stripped bicycle, and a suitcase from the creek corridor behind Creekside Plaza in Poway. This is one of several community projects where participants build the skills they need to launch their own service businesses.

Through projects like this, participants develop project planning, crew coordination, time management, safety compliance, and delivering documented results to stakeholders — the same skills they use to run a cleaning, landscaping, or handyman business.

See Full Project Details → View All Projects →
See It In Action

Some Participants Launch Their Own Businesses

Real examples from real participants. Each person gets a professional business website ready in minutes.

marketfoundry.io/workspace/ronald/maria-s-house-cleaning
🏠 Maria's House Cleaning
Home Services About Pricing Contact

Professional House Cleaning
in Federal Way

Trusted, reliable, and thorough cleaning services for your home.

Get Your Free Quote

Why Choose Maria's House Cleaning?

✅
Licensed & Insured
⭐
5-Star Reviews
📅
Easy Booking
Fair Pricing
✓ Built with MarketFoundry AI

Maria's House Cleaning — Federal Way, WA. A local service business site created through the program.

Everything they need to start earning.

Every participant gets a professional website, business email, booking calendar, payment processing, and a step-by-step training curriculum — all set up for them.

The AI handles the technical setup. The participant focuses on their service. Within days, they have a real business with real tools to start getting customers.

The site shown here is live, clickable, and was created through the program.

View this site live →
Real People — Ready to Start

Real People. Real Stories. Ready Right Now.

These aren't hypothetical participants. They've already applied, shared their stories, and are waiting for the chance to build something of their own. A single mom of five. A veteran starting over. A caregiver who can't leave the house but refuses to stop working. Read their words — they'll tell you what this means better than we ever could.

30+
Applicants ready to participate

We currently have a group of individuals who have completed detailed applications and are ready to begin immediately if funding is approved. Funding this grant puts them into action immediately.

HOW IT WORKS

How the program works

No technical experience required. Participants answer a short questionnaire, and the program takes it from there.

01

Join a crew

No experience required. Join a funded community project crew and start learning marketable trade skills — power washing, landscaping, debris removal, surface restoration, and tree care. You get paid while you learn.

02

Build real skills on real projects

Work alongside experienced crew leads on documented community projects. Every project builds your portfolio with verified skills, before/after photos, and hours logged. Your work becomes your proof.

03

Build your career

Take your verified skills and professional portfolio into full-time employment, freelance work, or launch your own service business. Some participants use the AI platform to build a business website with booking, payments, and marketing tools. Others use their documented experience to land jobs in landscaping, property maintenance, or facilities management. Your path, your choice.

COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECTS

Building Businesses That
Serve Their Communities — Not Just Once, But Always

Every participant completes a community service project as part of their business launch — developing real workforce skills while making a direct impact in their neighborhood.

➣

Define a Project

Participant identifies a service project that benefits their local community — a cleanup, tutoring session, home efficiency improvement, or any hands-on service.

✓

Complete the Project

They execute the project, capture photos and a testimonial, and publish the results on their business website — building real credibility.

➤

Grow Into Paid Work

With proof of work, a testimonial, and marketing tools, they transition into paid services — with a Community Commitment built into their business. Whether it's one free service per month for a neighbor in need, eco-friendly practices, or regular volunteering, giving back becomes part of how they operate — and can solicit sponsors for future community projects.

Community Service Projects — Current & Planned

✓
Tutoring & Education
Free homework help session, reading support for children, math tutoring workshop at a community center
✓
Community Cleanup & Yard Work
Neighborhood cleanup day, yard work for a senior resident, community garden maintenance, trash pickup
✓
Home Efficiency Improvements
Installing water-saving fixtures, replacing bulbs with energy-efficient LEDs, sealing drafts, irrigation adjustments
✓
Senior & Community Support
Tech help for seniors, errand assistance, donation pickups, organizing or decluttering for a neighbor in need

Why this works: Community service projects develop real workforce skills — time management, customer interaction, problem solving, and project execution — while creating tangible value for the community. Participants walk away with proof of work, a testimonial, and the confidence to pursue paid opportunities. Local businesses, churches, and organizations can sponsor additional projects, creating a sustainable cycle of community benefit and participant income. The result isn't just a business — it's a community-focused business owner who carries the commitment to serve forward in everything they do.

Local Impact

Impact in your community

This program serves people in communities like yours — including residents in San Diego County — who need a flexible, practical way to earn income — particularly those navigating job changes, re-entering the workforce, or dealing with circumstances that make traditional employment difficult.

Participants include caregivers who can't leave home, people returning from incarceration, immigrants building a new life, and people on disability working toward financial independence. Most are not looking for assistance — they're looking for a way to work.

The program gives them a website, a service offering, and the training to start finding customers.

•
Flexible, home-based income
Participants build businesses that work around caregiving, disabilities, transportation barriers, and nonstandard schedules.
•
Hyperlocal by design
Service-based businesses are built to serve the participant's own neighborhood — money that stays in the local economy.
•
The technical barrier is gone
AI handles the website setup, design, and copy. Participants focus on the service — not the software.
•
Already underway
30+ scholarship students actively building businesses across 15+ states. Community improvement projects underway with documented results — Poway Creek Trail cleanup with documented before/after results. 6 additional projects in the pipeline across San Diego County.
How This Grant Is Used

Direct support for local participants

Every dollar goes directly to covering program costs for a specific participant.

$1,000
Funds 1 local resident
$3,000
Funds 3 local residents
$5,000
Funds 5 local residents
  • ✓
    Enrollment costs for local participants
    Grant funding covers the cost of enrollment for local residents who cannot cover the program fee on their own.
  • ✓
    Platform access, hosting, and domain registration
    Covers the AI workspace, website hosting, domain name, and email address each participant uses to run their business.
  • ✓
    Curriculum — 22 lessons
    Structured training covering website setup, service pricing, how to find customers, and how to get paid — in that order.
  • ✓
    Hands-on project training
    Funds the participant's first community service project — a tutoring session, neighborhood cleanup, home efficiency improvement, or other hands-on service that builds experience and benefits their community.
What participants walk away with
Each participant finishes with:

A live website at their own web address. A booking calendar customers can use to contact them. A professional email address. A completed 22-lesson curriculum. A $200 Community Service Project Grant to fund their first community service project. A completed community service project with photos, testimonials, and proof of work. A Community Commitment — an ongoing practice of giving back built into their business identity.

These are concrete tools and outcomes they use to launch their business and serve their community.
A Quick Note

I’ve been a business owner for over 25 years and a member of the Rotary Club of Poway-Scripps, where Service Above Self isn’t a slogan — it’s the standard. I founded MarketFoundry because I saw an opportunity to combine what I know about building businesses with what my community needs most: skilled people doing real work on real problems. The goal is simple: train people through hands-on community projects and give them everything they need to build a career.

Ronald Skolnik Founder, MarketFoundry · Rotary Club of Poway-Scripps · (619) 818-3731
Program Status

The program is already running.

Participants are currently enrolled, creating websites, and working through the curriculum.

⚖️
Registered 501(c)(3) Nonprofit
MarketFoundry Workforce Scholarship Fund. IRS determination letter received March 2026. EIN 41-4192096. Contributions are tax-deductible.
🚀
Program Active & Proven
30+ scholarship students across 15+ states. Community improvement projects completed with full before/after documentation. 6 additional projects in the San Diego pipeline. Live participant profiles at marketfoundry.io/students.
🏗️
Built by a Practitioner
Founded by Ronald Skolnik, a 25-year business owner and member of the Rotary Club of Poway-Scripps. The program is built on real-world experience and a commitment to community service.

Ready to discuss how this program serves your community.

We welcome the opportunity to share participant outcomes, program details, and how grant funding directly supports residents in your community. Happy to provide any documentation needed.

Get in Touch →

[email protected]  ·  (619) 818-3731