Spokane nonprofit Tincan has moved to new facilities, allowing it to create an on-site computer lab and video production studio, and says it will begin offering classes to businesses in September.

Tincan, an organization of tech-savvy educators, develops and provides information-technology and interactive-media classes for students, teachers, and others in the community, and joins with other organizations to increase community access to digital technologies.

For its upcoming business classes, "We will take the same one-on-one, hands-on model we use with young people," says Tincan director Karen Michaelson. "We'll do a series on inexpensive Web-site development. We'll also do several weeks on how to more effectively get (a business's) message out using video and social media."

Michaelson says she developed Tincan's workshop model after attending numerous workshops.

"If you're going to give a workshop to businesspeople, you don't want them to leave overwhelmed with information they don't have time to implement," she says. "At our workshops, you're not going to go home with a pile of papers that tell you how to do it—you actually did it."

In the past, Tincan had to teach its classes at satellite locations in the Spokane area. Now, it has its own teaching facility at its new headquarters at 1317 W. Second, downtown. There, it has a training lab with 32 personal computer workstations, as well as a video-production training studio with four editing stations, professional-grade cameras, and professional lighting. Students and teachers began taking summer classes at the new facility in July, including classes in educational video-game development and what it calls science journalism video production. For instance, Tincan's students have created a video game set in a forensic laboratory, and a film describing the state of Idaho's efforts to control its wolf population.

Michaelson says Tincan has worked with about 700 students and 60 teachers a year, primarily in schools. Now, in addition to that, the nonprofit will be providing computer training labs for youths and adults at Spokane-area community centers, other nonprofits, and libraries, thanks to two grants from the U.S. Department of Commerce totaling $2.2 million. The workshops Tincan will hold in those places also will follow the same model used in schools. It will teach information technology, interactive media, and collaboration and problem-solving skills.

"In the real world, game development is not done by one person. It's done by a group of people. The tasks are divvied out," Michaelson says. "That's what employers want. People need work-force skills that allow them to fit into the contemporary workplace, or they're not a good employee."

"All of our kids have to work in teams. We don't allow them to work alone unless it's their senior project, Michaelson says. "At first, they whine a little bit, as do the adults, because they're not used to pairing up with another person. They gradually learn to do it—it's a slow process."

Michaelson says Tincan also strives to help people become "technology-fluent, not just technology-literate," which she hopes will enable them to embrace new technological advances with confidence later.

Tincan, originally called The Inland Northwest Community Access Network, began as a grant program administrated by Eastern Washington University. After it launched as a separate nonprofit in 1999, it operated out of a small office at 1110 W. First. Then, it operated for seven years in 1,300 square feet of space in what's now the Courtyard Office Center, at 827 W. First. During that time, it changed its name to Tincan. In June, it moved to 3,500 square feet of leased space on Second.

Tincan has been able to grow and offer an expanded list of classes since it became a nonprofit because, Michaelson says, "A nonprofit should be run like a business. We keep careful track of our money. We're known for being frugal." She says the organization often has funds left over at the end of a grant period, so she gets permission from the granting agency to extend the duration of the program.

One of the programs offered by Tincan is a dropout prevention program that teaches business concepts to eighth graders to encourage them to stay in school.

"Business is a wonderful way to engage kids, because business is risky," Michaelson says.

The class involves creating a business plan, using the library to access business information, learning about business insurance, finding out what the competition charges for a product or service, and writing a privacy statement.

"It's been very effective with kids. Some of the students have gotten the idea that they could actually develop a business," Michaelson says. "Some have stopped fighting because they don't want detention so they can go to our after-school program."

Another Tincan program teaches students to develop educational video games.

"When students develop a game, they have to learn the topic in-depth. They become motivated to learn science, and they take responsibility for their own learning," Michaelson says.

Tincan's video game curriculum has expanded in Washington state beyond Spokane-area schools to middle schools and high schools in Preston, Union Gap, Battleground, Yakima, and Fort Lewis, she says.

Michaelson says she speaks all over the U.S., and writes eight or nine large grant requests a year, plus a few small ones. She's working on a five-year grant proposal to the National Science Foundation, which she hopes will allow Tincan to expand its video game curriculum to nationwide use.

Michaelson says Tincan does a 13-point evaluation of every class to try to determine whether it helps students.

"We need to be able to show the next funder that we made a substantial difference in the lives of disadvantaged youth, or of adults in need of more technological knowledge," she says.