Gavilan offers business classes in Spanish
by Jan Janes on Apr 10, 2020
Embracing the community in community college, Gavilan offers free classes in Spanish to people who want to learn the fundamentals of starting a successful small business.
The class is a partnership between Gavilan College and El Pajaro Community Development. “With this partnership, we recruit the students,” said Randy Brown, who oversees the noncredit program. “They provide the instructional classes and access to maker space.”
For the spring class, more than 20 people enrolled. Once they complete the class, they will receive 10 hours of business advising. “They have a network of advisors,” said Brown. “Those are the people we want teaching the classes, because of their expertise.”
In 10 three-hour classes, students learn basic accounting, basic marketing, business plan development, identifying costs, generating revenue, and assessing market competitors. The program, in its fourth year, has sponsored classes in Hollister and recently started one in Gilroy, which transitioned to online during the COVID-19 regulations.
People bring a range of business ideas they want to start. “After attending past classes,” said Brown, “People have started restaurants, a laundromat, and food manufacturing businesses.”
Gavilan also does outreach to businesses that employ Spanish speaking individuals, including Gilroy Foods, Christopher Ranch and Earthbound Farms.
“Gavilan classes are in high-immigrant, low-income settings, reaching into those communities,” said Brown. Building outreach in the English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, the college offers citizenship training and builds awareness about supportive social services and domestic violence services.
As students move through the ESL program, with its life skills and literacy courses, they advance to other academic programs offered by the college. After students complete the full academic ESL course offerings, they become paid peer mentors within the program.
During the past several years, noncredit programs have boosted the number of students who continue their education and pursue a college certificate or degree, up from 5% to 21%. “These are equity issues,” said Brown. “In noncredit programs, we want to service and provide access to those communities that don’t normally access community college services.”
Find more information about partnering with the Gavilan College noncredit program, or about Gavilan noncredit classes or call (408) 852-2824.
The class is a partnership between Gavilan College and El Pajaro Community Development. “With this partnership, we recruit the students,” said Randy Brown, who oversees the noncredit program. “They provide the instructional classes and access to maker space.”
For the spring class, more than 20 people enrolled. Once they complete the class, they will receive 10 hours of business advising. “They have a network of advisors,” said Brown. “Those are the people we want teaching the classes, because of their expertise.”
In 10 three-hour classes, students learn basic accounting, basic marketing, business plan development, identifying costs, generating revenue, and assessing market competitors. The program, in its fourth year, has sponsored classes in Hollister and recently started one in Gilroy, which transitioned to online during the COVID-19 regulations.
People bring a range of business ideas they want to start. “After attending past classes,” said Brown, “People have started restaurants, a laundromat, and food manufacturing businesses.”
Gavilan also does outreach to businesses that employ Spanish speaking individuals, including Gilroy Foods, Christopher Ranch and Earthbound Farms.
“Gavilan classes are in high-immigrant, low-income settings, reaching into those communities,” said Brown. Building outreach in the English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, the college offers citizenship training and builds awareness about supportive social services and domestic violence services.
As students move through the ESL program, with its life skills and literacy courses, they advance to other academic programs offered by the college. After students complete the full academic ESL course offerings, they become paid peer mentors within the program.
During the past several years, noncredit programs have boosted the number of students who continue their education and pursue a college certificate or degree, up from 5% to 21%. “These are equity issues,” said Brown. “In noncredit programs, we want to service and provide access to those communities that don’t normally access community college services.”
Find more information about partnering with the Gavilan College noncredit program, or about Gavilan noncredit classes or call (408) 852-2824.