CREATIVE · TECHNICAL · WORKFORCE  Training sign-ups are open. See open trainings →
Learn the craft · Own your work · Build the community

Hands-on creative, technical and trade training, built for ownership.

Krafty Academy is a project-based training academy for career builders, emerging creators and people starting over. Learn audio and media production, digital systems and financial literacy, or applied trades, and leave with a portfolio of real work you can show.

Sign up for a trainingFind your track
Portfolio firstEvery module ends in real work
Free to joinNo tuition for the pilot
3 tracksMedia, digital and trades
Project-basedEvery module ends in work you can show
Free to joinInterest list and supervised pilot, no tuition
Rooted in the 252Greenville & Eastern North Carolina
Open trainings

Sign up for a Krafty training.

Pick a cohort below. Sign-ups run through the same training system as the Hip Hop Healing Institute, so if you've trained with us before, you're already in the family. You get a confirmation number right away, and a real person follows up with dates and location.

Peer support & recovery pathways

Train for peer support work.

Lived experience counts. These pathways help you get trained, log supervised peer work and connect with employers and clinical partners. Start with the free interest list and a real person will walk you through the actual steps.

Interest list · Virginia

Peer Recovery Specialist pathway (Virginia)

We help you through the four separate steps to work as a Virginia Peer Recovery Specialist:

  1. 72-hour state training from a Virginia DBHDS-approved trainer. You apply through the state portal and the trainer approves you.
  2. Experience in peer support, paid or volunteer, including supervised hours, as the Virginia Certification Board requires.
  3. Exam and certification through the Virginia Certification Board.
  4. Registration and hiring. Registration with the Virginia Board of Counseling and hiring by an employer are separate steps.

What Krafty and HHHI do: training navigation, application help, cohort coordination, supervised-hours tracking and introductions to employer partners, including our clinical partner HHCBHC under Dr. Stacy Coward.

Initial focus areas: Hampton Roads, Richmond and Northern Virginia.
Finishing the 72-hour class earns a training certificate, not state certification. DBHDS runs the training; Krafty and HHHI do not award Virginia credentials. Class dates, seats and fees are set by approved trainers: see the official list at dbhds.virginia.gov/vaprs-trainings. Enrollment, funding, certification and employment are not guaranteed.
Employer partner pathway · in development

Peer Support Trainee track with HHCBHC

Our clinical partner HHCBHC, led by Clinical Director Dr. Stacy Coward, is developing a peer support employment pathway for trainees. It is designed to move through four phases:

  • Discover: orientation, privacy training, shadowing peer staff, community outreach.
  • Train: state peer training and non-clinical intake and resource navigation.
  • Operate: supervised peer activities with logged hours.
  • Build: mentoring and exam preparation, then eligibility to be hired as a certified peer.

Trainees do non-clinical peer support and navigation only. They do not diagnose or provide therapy.

This pathway is in development. Positions, locations, schedules and pay are set by the employer and are not guaranteed until an employer agreement is in place. Hiring decisions belong to the employer. Krafty Academy and HHHI are nonclinical; clinical services are provided separately by licensed partners.
Interest list · North Carolina

Peer support pathway (North Carolina)

Interested in peer support work in Greenville and Eastern North Carolina? Join the interest list and we will confirm the current North Carolina training and certification requirements with you directly, along with the cohorts and employer partners available in your area.

Requirements are set by the state and can change, so we confirm them with you at sign-up. No guarantee of enrollment, certification or employment.
Why Krafty Academy exists

Education without ownership is just extraction.

Too many programs teach theory in isolation and leave people chasing entry-level work. We train inside working creative, technical and trade operations, so you learn the craft and the business side together: who owns the master, how a job is scoped and priced, how the money moves.

Core curriculum

Three tracks. Real tools. Real projects.

Pick one or more. Everyone shares the same foundation in communication, money basics, digital tools, safety and documentation, and that work carries over if you switch.

Producer working at a studio desk with monitors
01

Audio, Media Production & IP Ownership

Studio engineering and creative production alongside Mid-Atlantic Beat Studio.

  • Signal flow, mic placement, tracking and mixing in a DAW
  • Stems, loudness standards and scoring for video
  • Split sheets, PRO registration, ISRC/ISWC basics
Portfolio project: a mixed, documented three-track package with complete credits and metadata.
Two people working on code at computers
02

Digital Literacy, Automation & Fintech

The digital and financial systems that run modern businesses and community projects.

  • Websites, databases and privacy-first intake forms
  • Workflow automation and AI literacy
  • Budgets, credit, business structure and digital-asset basics (education only)
Portfolio project: a working web page and intake workflow built for a real local business or community project.
Man smiling while working with wood in a workshop
03

Applied Trades, Property & Logistics

Hands-on skills for building, maintaining and moving things.

  • Site safety, tools, rehab sequencing and material takeoffs
  • Property maintenance and scope-of-work estimating
  • Dispatch, routing and equipment basics
Portfolio project: a supervised scope of work with cost schedule and safety checklist.

Photography and video: Unsplash and Pexels (free licenses). Representative imagery, not Krafty participants.

Not sure where to start?

Find your track in 3 taps.

1. What sounds most fun?
2. Where do you like to work?
3. What do you want to own?
How it works

Learn. Practice. Build your portfolio.

01

Learn

Short, practical modules in your track plus the shared foundation.

02

Practice

Supervised, hands-on work in the studio, on site or at the keyboard.

03

Build your portfolio

Session logs, projects, checklists and feedback from the people who supervised you.

Straight talk: A Krafty badge shows internal criteria were met. It is not a license, degree or state certification, and finishing training is not a job offer. We help you build real evidence and connect you with opportunities that employers, clients and schools offer.
Ecosystem

Training inside working operations.

Krafty Academy works alongside the businesses and community programs of the Mid-Atlantic ecosystem, so practice happens around real projects.

Mid-Atlantic EnterprisesBusiness services, property and operations Hip Hop PeoplesCulture, community and media Hip Hop Healing InstituteNonclinical community pathways Greater Good EnterpriseNeighborhood commerce and community wealth
Join the interest list

Not ready to pick a training? Tell us what you want to build.

Joining is free and doesn't commit you to anything. Students, mentors and community partners all start here. A real person reviews every submission.

What Krafty Academy is and isn't

We offer

  • Free interest list and a supervised pilot
  • Hands-on, project-based training
  • Internal badges, approved by a named person
  • Referrals to opportunities offered by employers, clients and schools

We don't offer

  • Degrees, state licenses or certifications
  • Job, income or placement guarantees
  • Clinical, legal, investment or bail services
  • Tuition-based enrollment at this time