Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley has long banged the drum about the automaker’s lack of service technicians at its nearly 3,000 dealerships nationwide, but now he is putting money toward fixing it.
On June 8, the Detroit Public Schools Community District Foundation, the official philanthropic arm of Detroit Public Schools Community District, received a “landmark $5 million joint investment from Ford Motor Co. and Bloomberg Philanthropies.”
Bloomberg Philanthropies is owned by Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP news and Bloomberg Philanthropies. He was also a three-term mayor of New York City. The money will go to modernize and expand the auto technician program at Breithaupt Career and Technical Center on Hubbell Avenue in Detroit and to restart the auto technician vocational program at Western International High School on Scotten Street in Detroit.
This announcement comes just days after Ford launched a new national marketing campaign to tout the benefits to consumers of using dealerships for service work rather than independant mechanics.
Farley said last fall that Ford needed at least 5,000 mechanics at its dealerships and a Ford spokesman said it is working hard to close that gap. But even today, as Ford promotes its dealership service lanes, there still exists a 5,000 shortfall of service technicians needed at Ford stores.
Michigan in need of 7,000 mechanics by 2029
Farley and Mike Bloomberg are expected to tour Breithaupt Career and Technical Center and make comments about the donation midmorning of June 8.
Farley has warned that it is critical to save skilled trades jobs in the U.S. workforce, calling it the “Essential Economy.” Last September, Farley organized a workforce development conference at Michigan Central Station in Detroit. There, Farley brought industry leaders and policymakers together to address the trades crisis.
“By 2029, we’re going to need more than 350,000 new auto technicians across the country — including about 7,000 here in Michigan,” Farley said in a statement. “But these are highly skilled jobs, and people need a way to start learning earlier, build those skills over time and do it without taking on a lot of debt. That’s why Ford is investing in innovative programs like this — to disrupt the old model and give students a direct path from high school to great jobs.”
Farley has said a service technician could earn as much as $120,000 a year with enough certifications. But, the starting pay is closer to $40,000 to $50,000.
The money will prep students for a career
Of the $5 million donation, half of it comes from Ford Philanthropy and Ford Customer Service Division and the other half from Bloomberg Philanthropies, Kelsey Donohue, director of Communications & Marketing at Ford Philanthropy, told the Detroit Free Press.
Here are the ways it will be used:
Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the district’s partnership with Ford and Bloomberg philanthropy arms will ensure every student has access to education that leads directly to a career.
“With Ford’s industry expertise and Bloomberg’s philanthropic support, we are creating a blueprint for the future of career and technical education in Detroit that connects students to the skills, credentials and work-based learning experiences employers are looking for,” Vitti said in a statement.
Detroit can quadruple the students it trains
The funding to Detroit Public Schools is one of nine grants nationwide Bloomberg will be announcing across the country on June 8, Donohue said. The new national initiative from Bloomberg Philanthropies is intended to get more high school students interested in careers in skilled trades by bringing schools, employers and local partners together.
Locally, Vitti said by 2028, the donation to Detroit Public schools will “quadruple the district’s capacity to train student auto technicians, growing enrollment in the program at Breithaupt Career and Technical Center and Western International High School from 85 to over 300 students.”
At Western International High School, the auto technician program will restart and former auto bays, most recently used for storage, will be transformed into modern training spaces.
At Breithaupt, the investment will expand access to hands-on automotive training by modernizing instructional spaces, increasing capacity within existing automotive labs, and improving the class rooms to better support student projects and workforce preparation. It will all help to increase the number of students who can access automotive training and prepare for service technician careers.
“Today Bloomberg Philanthropies is launching the first national effort to connect high schoolers to in-demand careers in skilled trades, and our new partnership with Ford and Detroit Public Schools is a great example of it,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “The shortage of workers in the skilled trades is creating a major economic challenge for the whole country, and Ford and Detroit are stepping up to help solve it, by opening doors of opportunity to more young people.”
Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer for USA TODAY Co. who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit schools get $5M from Ford, Bloomberg for auto tech program
Reporting by Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
