Jon Miller Log

Jon Contacts.

Thu Nov 18, 2021

Draft Memorandum of Understanding

• Summarizes work accomplished during Jon's visit
• Create common operational picture
• Manage expectations
• Formulate realistic plan

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• Low income housing with vets
• Microhouse village with vets - social service way to provide labor
• Sweat equity labor - way to provide labor. Future homeowners spend 50 weekends over 2 years

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Apprenticeship Financial Model (GI Bill)

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Notes

• Common opearational picture
• SEH Product - Spec Build - Infrastructure are key elements
• How do we account for payroll taxes once we have an apprentice?

Wed Nov 17, 2021

• MVP tinyhouse crash course - [1]

Tue Nov 16, 2021

Infrastructure

• Inventory of workshop
  • Equipment, organized, operations for it
  • Organize steel pile
• Not just clean up - but system to prevent future entropy
• Repair as needed
• Landscaping
• Cleanup
• Design new building layout
• Same for hablab
  • Life support
  • Trash
  • Recycling
  • Food - how it comes in, managed, prepared
  • Laundry
  • Entertainment
• Think of systems
  • How are bathrooms cleaned
  • Where are people parking
• Areas: life support, workshop, materials storage and handling, 2nd workshop
• Build the workshop as we want to build the workshop

DoL Talking Points

• Match masking behavior
• SEH 1 first
• Ask by Jon - what's the best use of your time?
• Cool let's take 5 minutes to talk
• What you're looking at is a house that Apprentices will be building
• We should make it clear that we have skin in the game,
  • Way there is - this is our house; this is our design; we build it (not hired a contractor)
• Carpentry apprenticeship if it doesn't follow industry standards- harms the industry. 3rd option is to create a new standard.
  • Ex - building rafters - we don't do it
  • Burning hours idea - you build over and over. To quantify what they do in daily life.
  • Gatekeeping is reporting hours worked in pre-defined work process
  • How do you qualify apprentices? It's hours.

General Conditions

• Recruiting - full trash can. Proper response - where is your trash can liner.
• Engineer social interactions
• Systems - how do we manage
• April 1
• Solve for people first
• But, to solve for people we need to solve for living conditions
• Infrastructure and operations - but these need people!
• People -> infrastructure -> people -> money

Wed Nov 10, 2021

• Bringing structure to OSE vision
• DoL - system level constraints to scaling Apprenticeship
• Maybe 2 year apprenticeship is one of multiple things on a menu
• Crash course - part of making OSE an education and employment pathway
• Operationalizing a plan for Builder Crash Course
• Jon imagined a place like OSE before met me. Learn by doing, plus education - thermo, civ e. Originally - make products that you can sell.
• Have: brain; prouducts ready for commercialization; within context of sust and regen. Perfect match for where employment and edu is going.
• Vets - cultural, awareness, and bureaucracy issues.
• Change the narrative around slave live. To financial independence etc. Rewrite vet transition story
• Others - gig workers, not college grads, young people in hs who didn't buy into academics but who care about a better world; marginalized communities
• Chambers of Commerce - we have a formula for scaling economic dev. New skill base dev, help local enterprise start up.
  • Work used to be: factory, widget, get paid.
• Prove a new model for edu and employment.
• Build a microfactory?
• Before that: build a program. Ops manual. Bible. The bible could be the insurgency.
• Get this to copy. 100% getting the message out there.
• Teaser - we need feedback etc.
• Putting people in place to execute.
• Operations Manager -
• 2 routes: boatload of cash, hire experts. Or - bootstrap iterate, ex Builder Crash Course.

Sun Nov 7, 2021

Thoughts: '"it is unlikely that OSE would be able to make it through the certification process due to current statutes that are in place. As of now, it is important for certification programs to teach skills to a certain depth so students are marketable in the job market, and while OSE teaches a variety of extremely useful skills, it does not teach them to the depth to where they could realistically attain a job in the field.”' Why if we could start a welding program, don't confuse the people.

• Swarm Build Ops Manual [2]
• Swarm Build Doc - [3]
• Career Faur Soreadsheet - [4]
• Podcast invite - [5]
• Proprietary school exemption - [6]
• MO dept of higher Ed application - [7]
• Yale architecture - [8]
• Kiva loans for $15k [9]
• State approving agency - [10]
• Unaccredited programs - [11]

Wed Nov 3, 2021

• OSE 4 Year Program
• Proprietary Non-academic Exemption
• Shorter apprenticeship
• Deconstruction service of existing structure - controlled demo - reusing existing materials.
• Builder Crash Course Curriculum Development
• Jon - goal is to rebuild the American Dream. If you work hard, you'll get success. Manufacturing in the USA. Unsustainable work-life balance. Transform culture around the military. Veterans. Not restricted by current jobs.
• Thought his ME was hot, but saw a farmer rig up creativity on a tractor...
• 150k vets. 50% get education. Culture of "I need a 4 year degree to be successful"
  • College doesn't interest them
  • Navigate benefits - lots of red tape
  • Some get employed
  • There is a culture in the military re dependency, disabled vet sense of entitlement.
• Unconventional education, system change, collaboration with institutions.
• Could

Meeting 2

• Brian, Jon, Marcin. David Leasure not today.
• Ranch in South Dakota - actually seeing it. Getting hands dirty on a ranch.
• Production Technologist - apprenticeship title. Submitted to DoL
• Established Relationship, willing to approve on paper, we're far away from apprentices on the ground. They are still to approve standards. But before that it is a site visit. It would be a local level DoL.
• Scenarios - no, this doesn't meet our standards for Apprenticeship, here are changes. OR - 'you are good -
• Education - students
• ARPA - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Rescue_Plan_Act_of_2021 - Brian applied for a $100M grant
• Missouri Community College - MCC
• Education Route - Builder Crash Course. Submit as independent program. Exemption under non-vocational status. This would make OSE a proprietary school in Missouri - 30 day turnaround.
• Nonvocation - could be basketweaving. Not putting people into workforce.
• Allows us to start clock on GI-bill approved facility.
• Waiver - from high up in the edu world.
• Financial Instruments-
  • P2P
  • Purchase orders
  • MCC financial aid
  • DAO
  • Financial Innovation - how to finance anyone who wants to go in
  • Kiva Loans- $15k of labor.
• General Assembly - got VA to sign off on their program by. General Assembly went the education pathway. Financing handbook by General Assembly.
  • Look at their financing handbook - [12]. For how to finance students. Brian knows GA founder
• Build in 2 weeks - we build a kit!
• Hire a company to productize -
• Income-sharing agreement
• We want to unjob people, not employees - Brian sez.
• Add a layer of support via financing structures.
• Smuggle thems in, koz pimping ain't easy
• Jungletown - not a Marcin but had good intentions - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6749344/
• https://www.givingback.org/ - fiscal sponsor of Foundation for Regeneration
• Economic Gardening - selling innovation to other markets. https://economicgardening.org/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fungible_token

Wed Oct 27, 2021

• Workforce dev + refrigeration units

Wed Oct 20, 2021

• Less of this likeminded geniuses to the normal
• People show up, we accomplish things, people leave happy
• Plan that can run on autopilot. That would be growth.
• Less from pay for a 3D printer - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/622508883/open-building-institute-eco-building-toolkit?gclid=CjwKCAjw_L6LBhBbEiwA4c46upx-L9G9s9VQcfiAA_siAjnDGh6_qMBP4aT6NbSwjikJUu1yDaToURoCjVQQAvD_BwE
• Check out the Stages of Organization Model - https://arthuryoung.com/applications/the-sibbet-le-saget-stages-of-organization-model/
• This is relevant to our notions of collaboration.
• Plan - finish eating this candy bar. Then open up the next candybar.
• Summary - categorize all that we have. $30k. It's when you have the numbers figured out.
• Richard Henneger - get word out, message has to be cohesive.
• Time and task organization - step 1.

Wed Oct 13, 2021

Planning Doc - Troop Leading Procedures - standard framework for any planning in the military:

• • Analysis of situation
  • Mission
  • Execution
  • Sustainment - logistics and coordination
  • Command and Control - who reports to who, roles, etc - roles and responsibilities
• DOL is willing to approve, but want an in-person site visit. Mid Nov but depends on budget
  • Gaps - paying people, instructors
  • On visit - eye wash equipment, safety posters, etc.
  • Fire extinguisher, eye wash station, emergency station - have that prepped
• Prior to finding client:
  • Product specification
• Education discussion - they won't approve something not well-defined.
  • More compelling argument on specific
  • 97% use GI Bill for education
  • 3% do employment
• Swarm Build doc - [13]

Wed Oct 6, 2021

Rusk, Jack <jack.rusk@yale.edu> Attachments Tue, Oct 5, 2:21 PM (18 hours ago) to Jonathan, me

Jonathan and Marcin -

Wow! Thank you for thinking of me. This is a really exciting project and I’m very much in love with the ethic behind Open Source Ecology. I’m game to do what I can to support you in bringing this to fruition.

I really wish I could volunteer myself, but I have a few other things lined up. What I could do, though, is: 1) Forward an email to the School of Architecture about this opportunity. I’d imagine that you would draft boilerplate and I could tune it to the audience. 2) Ask if there’s a student in the Green Building class (which Jon took) that would be interested in taking this on as a class project. 3) Connect you with the people who run the Green Light ideation workshops at Yale School of the Environment. They host half-day chartreuse working with real clients on real problems.

Let me know if any of that could be helpful? Or if there’s anything else I could do.

Sincerely,

Sent from my iPad

Sep

• Wage schedule, timeline, curriculum
• 2 year apprenticeship.
• Rapids Database, GI database
• Good relationship with Tracy - DoL missouri. Jon talked to Deborah, state relationship.
• Application is a living document
• Next: complete the application and submit it.
• Concrete final month is 85% of it
• GI Bill will give Vet $1250/month, decreases every 6 months by 20%
• TBI - traumatic brain injury
• What you think is possible is only a fraction of what is possible
• If this is s

Mon Aug 9, 2021

Marcin,

I want to reach out to my former professor, Peter Yost  and his colleague Jake Bruton regarding our collaboration. Together, they are part of a community of builders and building scientists with big profile—connected to Matt Risinger and The Build Show  They offered to have me on their building science podcast and I have had to delay until now. Below is a draft e-mail introducing OSE, and you. Want your approval on the ask before I send this out.

Jon

"Hi Jake and Peter,

Thanks for being patient. I’ve got the family settled in finally, and I’m ready to record a podcast with you if you’re still interested. Additionally, I would like to ask both of you for help on a related topic. 

1. Context: I recently partnered with Open Source Ecology  a non-profit based an hour outside of Kansas City, MO. Together, we are building a 2-year curriculum that could double as a registered apprenticeship and supplement a 4-year engineering degree. The program would teach students to construct a modular home system called the Seed Eco-Home by combining foundational STEM and building science with hands-on construction and the integrative design process. I am directly assisting with curriculum development and pathways to the veteran community and benefits. I’ve cc’d OSE’s founder, Marcin Jakubowski.
2. Ask: Is there a way we can tap into your networks to spread awareness of OSE and lay the groundwork for future partnerships? This could be through the UnBuild It podcast, or maybe even the Build Show. Marcin is currently running their first apprenticeship class in collaborative design. It could also be through warm intros with industry professionals who find the idea intriguing. Jake—is this something you might be interested in checking out as it is relatively close to your base of operations? In general, your thoughts as building professionals and scientists would be extremely valuable.

Regarding the podcast, here are the current topics I can speak to:

• Opportunities for builders/employers to tap into veteran benefit programs and recruit long-term apprentices and employees.
• My personal journey working with a building scientist (Paul Herron) to upgrade the 1980s single family home over the past month. This includes rebate programs, solar, insulation upgrades, and energy audits.
• The Open Source Ecology model for empowering the next generation to tackle big problems through applied learning in home construction."

Best,

Jon Miller

Mon Aug 9, 2021

Relevant Links: Apprenticeship Standards, Cornell Law site - [14]. Other Training - [15]

Jonathan Miller	Aug 8, 2021, 10:01 PM (8 hours ago)
to me

1. Pay rate for builder: Using WA as I assume it has the highest cost of living of the three options, I would expect a general tradesperson to start at $12/hour +/- 2$. A journeyman qualified carpenter with some real soft skills could justify a $30/hour wage easily. For an entry level vet, using their GI Bill this roughly equates to an after-tax earnings of around $40k a year when going from green employee to journeyman. That said, you can structure it as low as you want. It’s possible to pay less, but we would need to know more about the local labor market conditions in each state to assess the impact on hiring. Of course, my intuition is that the people who apply to this program aren’t motivated by money per se, they want to know their needs will be met while pursuing something cool. Ultimately, the only constraints on how you structure your wage schedule are: 
   • that the starting wage is above the federal minimum wage 
   • starting wage is at lleast 50% of the fully qualified wage; 
   • The final month of training must be at least 85% of the fully qualified wage,
   • Employees are guaranteed at least 30 hours a week.
2. For a 2-year program (On-the-job training or Apprenticeship), the wage schedule begins with the fully qualified wage ($x). This is what you would pay someone the day they complete the training program or apprenticeship. On day 1, the employee must earn at least x/2. The final month of their training, they must earn at least .85x. Then, when they complete the program and are “fully qualified,” they are eligible to earn x, provided you hire them.
   • Everything I’ve just laid out applies to all apprentices, and veterans who use the GI Bill for the On-the-job training program.
   • For GI Bill eligible veterans, they will receive a monthly housing allowance directly from the VA, on top of their wages.
   • Every 6 months, regardless of how your wage schedule changes, the housing allowance decreases 20%.
   • The minimum length of program eligible for the On-the-Job training certification is 6 months and there must be a reasonable expectation that the veteran employee is hired once they are fully qualified. 
3. If you provide housing on-site, you can charge them as much as you want, as long as you don’t violate any of the constraints from point 1. I may need to dig into this because I’ve never seen an employer simultaneously pay apprentices and provide housing. There is no policy constraint that I’m aware of to prevent you from doing this, and frankly, there is no reason for the VA to really know about it if the program meets all standards.

Yes! I agree - already getting some great feedback just from the simple, vague post I threw up today. There is a hunger for this. You really only need one veteran success story to get the ball rolling. If I didn’t have a wife and baby, I would volunteer.
Attaching relevant federal regulations related to the OJT program and Apprenticeships.

Jon Miller
Founder, Outlaws Inc.
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Sat Aug 7, 2021

GI Bill Log.

Sat Jul 31, 2021

Jon Miller

to Jesse, Brian, me, David

Marcin,
TL;DR: Before veterans can use their GI Bill to attend OSE programs, one of the following must occur:

1. Education certification—OSE must either fall under UMKC, or initiate the 2 year process through the MDHE.
   • Approval means that veterans receive monthly cash and OSE receives tuition payments.
2. Apprenticeship certification—OSE must apply to the Department of Labor
   • Approval means that veterans receive monthly cash and OSE pays apprentices wages.

There is a third option for On-the-Job training. The benefits are the same as apprenticeship, but graduates will not receive a nationally recognized credential. Applications go through the VA, not the Department of Labor. Additionally, there is an expectation that upon completion of the training period, the veterans have a reasonable expectation of employment. In theory we can pursue all three concurrently, but that risks efficiency loss as the red tape is significant for each application. Recommend re-assessing after you speak with the Dean.
GI Bill aside, I can still promote OSE through my network immediately. All I need is any web copy or promotional material you want highlighted, or to know if there are any restrictions to what you want on social media.
Response to your questions…
The ask (draft ideas):

1. “Can OSE and UMKC partner together to allow OSE apprentices to receive UMKC credit?”, or “What would it take for UMKC to recognize the OSE apprenticeship as a supplementary part of the existing engineering curriculum?
2. “Is UMKC willing to cosponsor the OSE apprenticeship as a UMKC certificate program that counts toward an engineering degree credit?”
3. “Can UMKC help OSE meet the Missouri Department of Higher Education standards as an approved educational facility?”

Each are slightly different ways of saying, “Can UMKC recognize OSE as a part of their engineering degree program so we can fall under your GI Bill approval?” My thinking is that if the OSE apprenticeship is a part of the UMKC system, the veteran benefits would would be automatic. I would also want to communicate that you see OSE as a combination of education and job prospect that would directly address veteran reintegration challenges. Your “Why” for GI Bill approval is that through veteran benefits, you can unlock human potential, currently hindered by the challenges of military separation for the 140,000 young, uneducated veterans that leave the service each year. I can provide more details if needed.
“What does it mean to be approved by MO Higher Ed?”:

• I don’t know yet - working on it. Unless you object, I will reply to the State Approving Agency e-mail and ask them specifically about OSE (previous e-mail was generalized).

Curriculum Development:

• Existing OSE apprenticeship: The 6-month schedule you have on the website is a 70% solution for what the Department of Labor looks for in apprenticeship applications. We might re-format into Tasks/Required Hours/Performance Measures, etc. But it looks like you have done most of the work already.
• Factor E Farm as Approved Learning Facility: Yes, I believe first step should be curriculum dev as discussed on our phone call.

Jon Miller
Founder, Outlaws Inc.
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