Alcoa Foundation Awards $45,000 grant to Collision repair education foundation

The Collision Repair Education Foundation has announced that Alcoa Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Alcoa, a global leader in lightweight metals technology, engineering and manufacturing, awarded the Collision Repair Education Foundation a $45,000 grant that will sponsor 15 collision school programs with the industry-recognized I-CAR Aluminum Welding Certification. The 15 schools will be selected from the Collision Repair Education Foundation’s 2014 Ultimate Collision Education Makeover school grant applications.

Upon completion of the certification, the instructors will prove their ability to:

• Identify and correct weld defects
• Properly prepare metal surfaces
• Perform proper welding techniques
• Explain safety issues involved with aluminum welding • Properly set up, tune and maintain a welding machine

“With aluminum being the second-most used material to build cars, it is important to ensure that the professionals who will be repairing these cars have the proper training and certification to ensure the occupants safety,” said Dan Murphy, senior vice president, Business Development Alcoa Defense at Alcoa. “By working together with the Collision Repair Education Foundation and I-CAR, we are able to help provide the industry recognized aluminum welding certification to collision school program educators, who in turn will pass this knowledge on to their collision students.”

Added Collision Repair Education Foundation Director of Development Brandon Eckenrode, “We are thankful of Alcoa Foundation’s continued support to help train collision repair educators across this country and their instructor’s efforts to prepare the future professionals of the collision industry. Not only should current technicians be prepared to perform quality, complete and safe aluminum repairs but through this grant, school instructors can obtain current welding skills that their school budgets might not allow them to complete. Through Alcoa Foundation’s support and working together with I-CAR, we are truly taking technical education within collision repair school programs to a higher level.”

“I-CAR is thrilled to partner with the Collision Repair Education Foundation and Alcoa to provide this important training to career and technical school instructors,” said Bill Stage, I-CAR senior director, segment development – educational and international. “Aluminum-intensive vehicle repair techniques are different, not difficult, and the I-CAR Aluminum Welding Training & Certification course will educate the instructors on how to perform quality, complete and safe aluminum repairs to properly restore vehicles, which they can then relay onto the students."