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AI Upskilling Central Island for Small Business – Work Smarter, Not Harder with AI

Build the skills to work effectively with AI and apply it to real business work.

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Small businesses that embrace AI today will lead tomorrow. Will yours?

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AI is no longer a distant prospect. It’s already transforming how businesses work, grow, and compete and the pace is accelerating.

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Build the skills to work effectively with AI and apply it to real business work.

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AI is increasingly becoming part of everyday business work, from research, communication and document creation to analysis, planning, workflow support and multi-step assignments.

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AI Upskilling Central Island: AI Fluency for Real Work is a practical, hands-on program designed to help small business owners, nonprofits, solopreneurs and key employees across the Regional District of Nanaimo and Cowichan Region use AI more effectively in their day-to-day work.

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The program is designed primarily for early-to-intermediate AI users while remaining accessible to motivated beginners. No advanced AI knowledge is required.

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You may already be using tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Microsoft Copilot and want to get more value from them. You may be earlier in your AI journey and ready to build practical capability. You may be looking for ways to reduce administrative work, improve recurring workflows, conduct better research, organize information or prepare your organization for continued AI adoption.

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Across three learning sessions, applied practice, implementation labs and an ongoing AI Community of Practice, you will build practical AI fluency, apply AI to real business work and identify opportunities to improve how work gets done.

Many small businesses in our region are already feeling the pressure:

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  • Staffing shortages that make it difficult to keep up

  • Overwhelming workloads that leave little time for strategic growth

  • Vendors and suppliers changing or closing, requiring businesses to adapt quickly

  • Outdated tools and processes that struggle to keep pace with changing customer and workplace expectations

 

At the same time, AI is changing both the tools businesses use and the way work gets done.

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For small businesses and nonprofits, this creates opportunities to save time, improve access to information, reduce repetitive work, strengthen decision-making and improve existing processes.

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Getting value from AI requires more than knowing how to write a prompt. It means understanding what current AI tools can do, knowing how to give them the right context and direction, applying them to appropriate work, critically reviewing their outputs and recognizing where human judgement and accountability need to remain.

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Building practical AI fluency now can help your organization adapt as these capabilities continue to evolve and become part of everyday work.

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AI Upskilling Central Island gives you structured time to learn, practise and apply AI to work that actually matters in your business.

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What You’ll Gain

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Through three hands-on sessions and ongoing implementation support, you will learn how to:

  • work more effectively with current generative AI tools

  • understand capabilities such as voice, files, document analysis, web and deep research, multimodal tools, data analysis and different AI models

  • move beyond basic prompting into more collaborative and delegated ways of working with AI

  • identify repetitive work and recurring workflows that could be improved

  • understand where AI assistance, delegation, automation and emerging agent-supported work may fit

  • make appropriate decisions about privacy, accuracy, verification, human review and ownership

  • build your AI capability through practice, implementation support and peer learning

 

Spots are limited. Secure your place now and start working smarter, not harder.

Only 30 Seats Available

$2,999 Value – Yours for as low as $199

 

More Than Three Training Sessions

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AI fluency develops through practice, application and continued learning.

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The program includes:

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  • Three two-hour learning sessions

    • Workshop 1: Building AI Fluency: Working Effectively with AI

    • Workshop 2: AI for Real Work: Efficiency, Productivity and Opportunity

    • Workshop 3: AI Readiness: Improving Workflows and Preparing for Adoption

  • Hands-on demonstrations and guided practice

  • Applied practice activities between sessions

  • Three Applied Implementation Labs where you can bring your own work, questions and workflows and receive practical support

  • Three AI Community of Practice sessions focused on continued learning, peer exchange, emerging AI capabilities and sharing how participants are applying AI in their work (after the main program is delivered)

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The implementation labs give you dedicated time to work through what you are learning and apply it to your own business or role.

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The AI Community of Practice creates an ongoing space to learn with other local participants, share what is working, troubleshoot challenges and stay current as AI continues to evolve.

 

Our format and content stay flexible and responsive to the evolving AI and digital landscape to ensure you get continued relevance and impact.

 

Program Cost: $199

  • First 10 seats: $199

  • Next 5 seats: $249

  • Final 5 seats: $299

Complete all 3 sessions and receive a $100 credit toward the advanced program sessions.

 

Why the Fee? The full value of the program is approximately $3,000 per participant and is heavily subsidized through program funding. A participant registration fee helps support commitment, attendance and active participation throughout the program.

 

What You’ll Need

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Participants must access the program using a computer.  We strongly recommend having access to one paid generative AI platform, such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, for the duration of the program.  Paid plans generally provide access to more of the capabilities used for practical business work, such as files, research, advanced models, Projects or equivalent workspaces and other higher-value features.

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Participants should also bring one real, low-risk piece of work they would like to improve.

 

This might be a recurring document, research task, administrative responsibility, customer communication, planning activity or internal process. You will have opportunities throughout the program to apply what you are learning to work that is relevant to you.

 

Program Dates:

  • Thursdays 8:30 - 10:30am PT

  • October 29th, 2026

  • November 12th, 2026

  • December 10th, 2026

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Applied Implementation Labs 8:00–9:00 AM or 12:00–1:00 PM PT

November 4, 2026

November 17, 2026

December 4, 2026

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Build Your AI Fluency

AI is becoming part of everyday work.  AI Upskilling Central Island: AI Fluency for Real Work gives you structured time to learn what current AI tools can do, practise using them on real work, build reusable ways of working and identify where AI can create practical value in your business.

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Led by Community Futures Central Island in partnership with Hufnagel Consulting and Jennifer Hufnagel, AI Educator, this program is designed for people just like you, entrepreneurs, small business owners and leaders juggling limited resources, tight margins, and relentless demands. Through tailored support and practical learning, we’ll help you cut through the noise and start using AI tools that make an immediate impact.

 

Be Part of Vancouver Island’s Future

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As more businesses and organizations across Central Vancouver Island learn how to use AI effectively, we build stronger local knowledge and capability. This program gives you an opportunity to strengthen your own business while learning alongside others in the region.

 

This is your moment for action. Don’t wait for the competition to figure it out first.

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