B Street Collision Center, a second-generation family owned and operated MSO, has 13 locations in Nebraska, Wisconsin and Kansas, and plans to expand into Missouri with two new locations by the end of 2025.
Employees are a key factor in B Street’s success, and it’s doing its part to contribute to the local talent pool.
Recently, B Street replaced “some fairly new welders with even newer welders,” said Emily Workman, human resources recruiter, so the company donated some those used MIG and spot welders to four community colleges: WyoTech in Laramie, WY; Metro Community College in Omaha, NE; State Technical College in Linn, MO; and Southeast Community College in Lincoln, NE. One school also received a used riveter.
The donations are part of B Street’s larger efforts to support high school and post-secondary collision repair students.
Everyone in the industry is aware of the technician shortage, Workman said. Techs are retiring or leaving the industry at a greater rate than young people are coming in.
“We can't do what we're doing without talent coming in,” Workman said. “We also believe in helping spread the word on this industry. It’s huge, so even if someone's not going to come work for us, a big part of what B Street believes in is reaching out to the schools and asking, ‘What can we do to help promote your program?’
“It's really important to make sure that there is awareness, giving students the ability to see if [collision repair] is an option for them,” she added. “It all comes down to being selfish. We need techs too. B Street is growing. We really like to promote from within and grow. It all goes hand-in-hand.”
B Street is invested in encouraging young people to consider a career in the trades in general, not just collision repair, Workman said.
Southeast Community College in Lincoln, NE, also received equipment.
“When I was in high school, we were taking trades out of high schools entirely,” she said. “We barely had a shop class as I was graduating. The teachers did what they could, but the funding wasn't there. The interest wasn't there.
“Now we’re hitting a different level of that again. We have career centers that teach culinary and carpentry and of course collision and automotive,” Workman added.
At the high school level, Workman said B Street team members visit schools when they host career fairs or college recruiters, “to talk about collision and what kind of career you can have, and all of the things that we believe are great about our industry.”
B Street also builds relationships with guidance counselors, career services advisors and instructors, which leads to visiting classes and sometimes even helping teach a skill.
“Recently we went to a school and helped with a frame class,” Workman said.
In addition to used equipment, B Street donates scrap metal and parts to repair education programs.
“Sometimes it's as easy as they just need aluminum to work on, or fenders to work on. That's stuff that’s going in our scrap piles, so why not donate 10 fenders that have some dings and dents in them that allows a high school or college student to practice their metal work?” Workman said.
B Street is also involved in SkillsUSA competitions in the states where it operates, judging collision repair categories and either donating equipment and supplies as needed or helping to find donors.
“Whatever they need, we're going to try our hardest to help them find it,” Workman said.
Workman encouraged anyone in the collision repair industry to get involved with their local schools.
“It's just fun, first off, to get involved with the schools, but it does such great things for our industry,” she said. “I try to advocate for the schools as much as I can, and encourage other employers to really get involved.”
Abby Andrews