Central Ohio AI Education Market Research

# 6-Hour Project: Central Ohio AI Opportunity Research

## Goal

I want you to research potential opportunities for me to provide practical AI education, workshops, training, speaking, consulting, or related services in Columbus and Central Ohio.

This is a **6-hour research project**, so I want quality over quantity.

I do not want a large list of organizations copied from Google. I want you to find a smaller number of promising opportunities and dig deeper into them.

You do not need to call anyone. All research can be completed online.

## 1. Find 15–20 Strong Organizations

Research 15–20 organizations in Columbus or Central Ohio that may have a reason to offer, sponsor, purchase, host, or fund practical AI education.

Possible organizations include:

* Workforce development organizations
* Nonprofits
* Libraries
* Colleges
* Chambers of commerce
* Entrepreneurship programs
* Small-business organizations
* Women-focused organizations
* Veteran organizations
* Community programs
* Professional associations
* Government programs
* Digital literacy or technology programs

For each organization collect:

* Organization name
* Website
* What they do
* Audience they serve
* Current training, workshops, or education programs
* Whether they currently offer AI-related training
* Why AI education could potentially fit
* Source links

Mark each:

**AI Training Found: Yes / No / Unclear**

I am especially interested in organizations that already offer workforce, business, digital literacy, technology, entrepreneurship, career, or professional-development training but appear to have little or no AI education.

## 2. Find the Decision-Maker

For each promising organization, find the person most likely responsible for training, education, programming, workforce development, partnerships, or small-business programs.

Collect:

* Name
* Job title
* LinkedIn profile
* Publicly listed email, if available
* Source

Do not guess email addresses.

## 3. Follow the Money

Spend part of the research time looking for evidence that these organizations have funding available for training or education.

Look for:

* Previous grants
* Government funding
* Foundation funding
* Corporate sponsorship
* Workforce-development funding
* Digital-literacy funding
* Entrepreneurship funding
* Technology education funding

For promising findings, record:

* Organization receiving funding
* Funder
* Amount, if available
* Year
* What the money was for
* Source

I am especially interested in **previous grant winners**, because this shows which organizations already have money flowing toward education or workforce programs.

## 4. Look for Paid Opportunities

Research any relevant current or previous:

* RFPs
* Training contracts
* Consulting contracts
* Workshop opportunities
* Speaker opportunities
* Conferences
* Professional-development events

Do not spend too much time on this section. Include the strongest opportunities you find.

## 5. Rank the Best Opportunities

After completing the research, select the **Top 5 organizations** you believe are most worth pursuing.

For each Top 5 organization include:

**Organization:**
**What they do:**
**Current training:**
**AI training found:**
**Funding evidence:**
**Decision-maker:**
**Why this may be a good opportunity:**
**Possible AI workshop idea:**
**Recommended next step:**

Examples of possible workshops could include:

* AI for Everyday Work
* ChatGPT for Small Businesses
* Practical AI for Job Seekers
* AI Productivity for Nonprofit Employees
* AI for Entrepreneurs
* AI Basics for Beginners

These are examples only. Recommend what makes sense based on your research.

## Research Standards

You may use AI tools to help locate and organize information, but important facts should be verified using reliable sources.

Good sources include:

* Official organization websites
* Government websites
* Foundation websites
* Annual reports
* Grant announcements
* LinkedIn
* Procurement websites
* University websites
* Press releases
* Official event websites

Please include source links.

If something cannot be confirmed, mark it:

**Unverified**

Do not invent or guess information.

## Final Deliverable

Please provide one Excel or Google Sheets workbook containing:

### Tab 1 – Organizations

The 15–20 organizations and all research.

### Tab 2 – Decision Makers

Names, positions, contact information, LinkedIn, and sources.

### Tab 3 – Funding & Opportunities

Grants, previous awards, contracts, RFPs, events, and other useful findings.

### Tab 4 – Top 5

Your five strongest opportunities with your reasoning and recommended next steps.

## Final Summary

At the end of the project, write a short summary answering:

1. What were the most promising opportunities you found?
2. Which organizations appear to already have funding?
3. What gaps did you notice in AI education?
4. What surprised you?
5. If you were me, which 3 organizations would you contact first and why?

## Time Limit

Please spend a maximum of **6 hours** on this project.

Do not try to maximize the number of organizations.

I would rather receive **15 well-researched organizations with useful findings than 100 basic organizations.**

### Main Question

**Who in Central Ohio already has the audience, programs, funding, or infrastructure that could support practical AI education, and which opportunities appear most worth pursuing?**