"We are very proud of the Foundation's ability to provide schools with the latest and most up-to date curriculum," said Larry Costin, vice chairman of CCC Information Services, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois, and I-CAR Education Foundation Trustee Emeritus. "Students not yet into their professional careers are receiving the same training as professionals already working in the collision industry."

The Foundation has been getting additional support from I-CAR volunteer committees and individual volunteers to support events such as golf tournaments, awareness events, and other local events. These events not only provide some monetary general support for the Foundation but they also benefit local career and technical schools and colleges, supporting the schools with purchasing curriculum, scholarships for the students, and general school needs. As funding becomes more and more of a challenge for career and technical schools and colleges, volunteer efforts become even more imperative to the future of the collision industry.

Attracting students

Not all of the Foundation's efforts have focused on helping schools and instructors."Our goal has always been to improve the quantity as well as the quality of entry-level technicians," said Ron Ray, who took the reins as the third executive director of the Foundation in 1998.

Scholarship funds have been a proven tool in student recruitment and retention, and the Foundation has developed partnerships with a number of industry organizations to create successful scholarship programs.

As part of its "Most Influential Women in the Collision Repair Industry" program, for example, Akzo Nobel Coatings since 2003 has worked with the Foundation to present thousands of dollars in scholarships to female collision repair students at ASE-certified schools around the country.

More recently at NACE in 2005, CCC Information Services announced that it would work with the Foundation to present $25,000 in scholarships to assist collision repair students.

In 2005, the Foundation launched two new web sites: www.collisionkids.org and www.collisioncareers.org. The sites - one aimed at high schoolers, the other at younger children - are loaded with age-appropriate games, activities and information to help introduce and attract students of all ages to the career opportunities this industry offers.

"The web sites are a fun and effective way to reach students in a way that this industry never has," Ray said.

Helping businesses and the industry

In addition to helping schools and attracting students, the Foundation throughout its 15-year history also has looked for other ways to help the businesses that hire entry-level technicians coming out of collision repair training programs.

A growing number of students arrive at the business with I-CAR points that can help the shop earn or maintain its Gold Class Professionals™ status and individuals earn or maintain their Platinum Individual™ designation. Since 2001, schools that have qualified and applied for the I-CAR Industry Training Alliance™ can offer students those points. As of 2006, 109 schools have joined the Alliance and a total of more than 40,000 I-CAR points have been redeemed by graduates.

In recent years, the Foundation has also expanded its job-preparedness program, originally underwritten by a grant from State Farm, and now in use at 72 schools. "People Actively Creating Employability through Short-Term Task Training," better-known as PACE + ST3®, is designed to more quickly give students the basic skills the industry has identified as needed to become a productive helper working in a collision repair business. It includes a web-based documentation system that helps the school and business learn and implement the program effectively, and helps the school, business, student, and the Foundation track progress and success.

"PACE + ST3 was an important step for the Foundation to address the real needs of the repairer," said Don Askew, president of Askew Enterprises in Mount Gilead, Ohio, and I-CAR Education Foundation Chairman Emeritus. "Through this program, students are taught and trained to be productive from their first day on the job. This is a very important step in meeting the needs of the industry."

Recent news

As the Foundation celebrates its 15th anniversary this summer, Ray reported on some of its most recent activities and accomplishments during the I-CAR International Annual Meeting in San Jose, California. The past year brought the first state-wide endorsement of the I-CAR curriculum. North Carolina now requires the use of the curriculum in all of the state's high school collision repair programs.

"We also continue to recognize the growing number of companies that have consistently supported our mission through financial contributions for at least 10 years," Ray said. "We feel it is important that the industry understand which companies - and there are now more than 20 of them - not only understand the critical need to address the shortage of qualified entry-level technicians, but are willing to invest their resources to do so."

That support, Ray and others involved with the Foundation say, is vital because there is still much work to be done.