MFG* Apprenticeships
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An educational—entrepreneurial hybrid in the high desert.



 Tuition-free training of local hands-on learners in trades that help build out spaces they want to occupy as adults in the Morongo Basin. By working with our hands, we work together to build a better future for ourselves. MFG fosters meaningful skills and meaningful relationships.

     


























*MFG, short for Mojave Fabrication Guild, grew from designer Roni Verokolt’s advanced study of sociology, specifically her academic re-consideration of the 2016 documentary, The Bad Kids, profiling the at-risk students of Black Rock Continuation High School. Within this context, MFG offers an act of community reclamation, rooted not in perceived morality, but rather potential, positivity and opportunity.

roni@verokolt.com
Concept
Merge STEAM, 
Creative Youth Development,
Career Technical Education


                                  Grow a paid apprenticeship program pairing young adults with master artisans working in design and building-oriented trades that are in-demand yet under-represented in the Morongo Basin. 


The Workshop
    The MFG Workshop addresses core precarities: 
    of socio-economic instability in the high desert
  • of sustainable professions accessible to youth 
  • of skilled tradespeople servicing the community
  • of those master artisans’ aging demographics
  • of the community need for safe, nurturing third spaces welcoming young adults and fostering positive inter- and intra-generational relationships.


The ShopThe MFG Shop stocks products made by participants—apprentices and mentors alike. Proceeds support the program and its commitment to provide sustainable wages. As an IRL retail space, the Shop tests the marketability of the pieces produced at The Workshop—an invaluable opportunity for direct consumer feedback, and an integral stage in MFG’s closed-loop system.

Place    The high desert of California has always been a challenging home; however, recent seismic demographic shifts have made the extreme ecosystem even more untenable for local youth. MFG believes everyone deserves a chance to build a sustainable life for themselves in the Mojave. By fostering community outside of school, MFG encourages personal power and confidence through hands-on career training.

Addressing high drop-out rates, MFG offers career empowerment as an alternative to relocation and resignation. Through complementary programming at The Workshop, MFG harnesses the area’s thriving arts community into creative service for youth.


PeopleMFG celebrates local talents: Founder Roni Koltuniak has spent 30 years working on design projects across the country, now from her homebase in Yucca Valley, where she is concurrently pursuing a degree in Sociology from Copper Mountain College; David and Brian Lepe, a father-and-son upholstery team based in Palm Springs, bring decades of experience to their role as mentors; and Morongo Basin-native James Ruiz was innundated with service calls the moment he became a certified electrician, a deluge that compells his desire to train more tradespeople in the high desert.