A nonprofit dedicated to creating a collaborative effort to address the collision repair technician shortage was launched today as the next step in growing the Collision Engineering Program (CEP).

In the fall of 2020, CEP was introduced by the Enterprise Mobility Foundation and Ranken Technical College as a pilot at four schools in the U.S. The program’s hybrid apprenticeship model was designed to help address the demand for highly skilled collision repair technicians. More than 100,000 job openings are expected through 2028.

A press release announcing the launch says the name of the nonprofit, Collision Engineering Career Alliance, reflects its goal — “to energize allies across the collision repair industry to help build a workforce that is highly skilled, prepared for the future of vehicles, and eager to build a lifelong, fulfilling career.”

Mary Mahoney, vice president of Enterprise Mobility, told Repairer Driven News that the collision repair industry has embraced CEP and it’s been proven over the last four years that the program works.

“It’s about making a lasting impact on the lives of students and schools,” she said. “Our partnerships with the collision industry are critical. We need certifications, equipment, and materials to continue to grow and expand because we just can’t do this ourselves.”

During the pilot, there were just over 200 students in the program. The retention rate was 87.5%, and 100% job placement for those that graduated, she added.

Mahoney shared one of her favorite success stories about the program at Contra Costa College in California, one of six schools that offer CEP. Enrollment took a hit during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic but one student, David Boné, stuck it out. By the end of the next school year, 35 students were in the program.

The first five students in the program at the college graduated in 2023.

At that time, Boné told RDN his favorite part of school was that the CEP and shops that participate in the apprenticeships have the same vision.

“Where I’m working at right now, I feel like I would have never been able to work there if it wasn’t for this program,” he said.

He added that anyone thinking about joining the industry needs to consider how hands-on it is and that “there’s going to be hard times and there’s going to be easy times.”

“In the industry, you get to see a lot of technicians that don’t have the same information, the training,” Boné said. “The industry is really big — it looks very small, it looks like your typical shop — but there’s so many other things that they can learn and there’s still so much opportunity there.”

Now, as the program continues to grow, Contra Costa needs more instructors and the program as a whole needs help from the industry, Mahoney said.

“Everywhere we open up a school, we need collision repair shops to partner with us because of our apprenticeship program,” she said. “We believe this program is going to be solved at a local level, not necessarily at a national level; local schools working with local communities, collision repair shops, and insurance companies to build a pipeline of collision repair technicians in the markets where they live and work.”

According to the release, philanthropic contributions to the alliance will enable increased student recruitment, expansion to more schools across the country, and cover the costs of certifications and assessments, quality-of-life needs, and tuition reimbursement.

“The launch of the Collision Engineering Career Alliance marks the next phase in the movement to develop highly skilled collision repair technicians,” said Carolyn Kindle, president of the Enterprise Mobility Foundation, in the release. “Nonprofit status will enable the Collision Engineering Career Alliance to remove barriers and create rewarding collision careers in more communities. Our continued support of this program reflects Enterprise Mobility’s commitment to strengthening our industry’s future.”

The launch of the Collision Engineering Career Alliance will not change the experience that instructors and students have received since the program began, the release notes.

“Addressing the increasing demand for a highly skilled collision repair workforce is critical to ensuring the future of mobility but achieving this goal will require a collective effort,” said Chrissy Taylor, CEO of Enterprise Mobility, in the release. “Through this alliance, we invite industry partners to join Enterprise Mobility in helping create a pipeline of highly skilled, motivated, and passionate collision repair professionals.”

CEP is active at Ranken Technical College in St. Louis, Missouri; College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois; Contra Costa College in San Pablo, California; Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois; Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska; and Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

More schools are expected to be added this year.

For more information about CEP and the Collision Engineering Career Alliance, visit beacollisionengineer.org.

Images

Featured image: Contra Costa College CEP graduate David Boné (Credit: Contra Costa College)

Contra Costa College’s 2024 graduates (Credit: Contra Costa College)

Contra Costa College CEP graduates Jesse DeLeon and David Boné work during a Polyvance plastics repair course. (Credit: Contra Costa College)

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