Automotive Technician students at Chattanooga State Community College provided with tools by award-winning initiative

A group of automotive dealers from the Greater Chattanooga area have set out to provide students with tools. Seven local automotive groups that represent more than 20 automotive brands in the area have decided to assist students attending the Chattanooga State Community College Tennessee College of Applied Technology who are studying to become automotive technicians through the school’s Automotive Technology course. The dealers wanted to make sure that those students were not wanting when it came to tools so that they could gain the experience needed to reach their goals of becoming automotive technicians.

When the dealers got together to figure out how they could help, they decided to create the Automotive Toolkit Initiative. Two weeks after getting together, these industry experts raised and donated a total of $81,000. That total is enough to fully stock 15 toolkits at Chattanooga State for the students of the Automotive Technician program to use in their studies. The toolkits include a wide range of tools, covering any project that an automotive technician might be expected to take on. The tools are housed in a large seven-drawer tool cabinet so that they can be properly cared for and stored. Each toolkit costs around $5,000 to obtain.

The Automotive Toolkit Initiative did not stop there; the dealers also plan to provide job search support and mentorship to Chattanooga State Automotive Technician students. The Initiative has also expressed interest in hosting work study programs allowing students to work at a dealership while still completing their studies, meet and greets with professionals in the automotive industry, and job fairs.

In an article posted on Chattanooga State Community College’s website, Brad Cobb, one of the members of the Toolkit initiative and the president of Bowers Automotive Group, was quoted on his desire to help, saying, “I was sitting in a Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce meeting, listening to what Eric Fuller, executive and mentor at local incubator Co.Lab, was doing with the trucking industry and Chattanooga State. I thought to myself, ‘Why can’t we do a similar program in the technician space?’ So, I reached out to Chattanooga State, and we developed the concept for the program to address the need. I then contacted the local dealers to ask for their support, and almost all of them immediately signed up. We are so excited to see this program create new opportunities and remove barriers for future technicians through the Toolkit Initiative.”

There has also been recognition by the American Technical Education Association (or ATEA). The Toolkit Initiative, and the automotive leaders leading it, was presented earlier this spring with the Silver Star of Excellence Award by ATEA in collaboration with the National Technical Honor Society. The Silver Star of Excellence Award recognizes a business or a group of businesses that shows the greatest support for technical education. 

The automotive groups taking part in the Automotive Toolkit Initiative are Sonic Automotive Group, Mountain View Auto Group, Integrity Automotive Group, Crown Automotive Group, Capital Toyota/Lexus of Chattanooga, Bowers Automotive Group, and Acura of Chattanooga.

More information about Chattanooga State Community College can be found at the school’s website.