At the NADA Show in Dallas this year, Damian Mills attended a presentation by the National Urban League on a new automotive technician training program it was launching with the car dealer association. Mills immediately decided to take part.
“Once I saw what the program was and the intentions, my team got behind it 100 percent,” said Mills, CEO of Mills Automotive Group, which has 29 dealerships in six states.
The pioneering program in Louisiana brings together two organizations — the National Urban League and the National Automobile Dealers Association — and their diverse resources to help alleviate a The hope is to establish a nationwide network of auto technician training apprenticeships.
“We hope the industry can take pilot programs and partnerships like this, use our model and take this across the country,” said Will Green, CEO of the Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association.
The National Urban League is an ideal NADA partner because of its traditional focus on creating opportunities for African Americans and other underserved communities, Green said.
“The Urban League had really good tools in place to recruit quality candidates,” he said.
The idea for the auto technician training program was the brainchild of Myra Dandridge, NADA’s executive director of external relations and public policy. Dandridge began discussing automotive service technician apprenticeships for minorities with the National Urban League in 2021, said Annette Sykora, NADA Foundation chairwoman and owner of
The foundation provided seed funding for the program, brought the parties together and helped develop the curriculum and guidelines. It also worked to help pave over any potholes the pilot program encountered along the way, Sykora said.
The National Urban League suggested launching the program at the state level, and because Dandridge has ties to Louisiana, which has an active affiliate of the organization, the state was selected.
When the national group first reached out to her, Cherie LaCour-Duckworth, the Urban League of Louisiana’s vice president for workforce development, began to put shape to the apprenticeship program. By the time she had a conversation with the NADA Foundation, “I had a program in place for them to consider for this opportunity,” she said.
The Urban League of Louisiana recently gained approval from the Louisiana Workforce Commission to sponsor registered automotive service technician apprenticeship programs, she said. Certification from a registered apprenticeship program is nationally recognized, LaCour-Duckworth said. It qualifies an apprentice to continue to earn higher-level certifications and is valid in any state.
The first group of 23 apprentices started the program on Feb. 18 with a four-week course that included professional skills, financial literacy and an overview of the auto industry.
“For the first time in history, we had a 100 percent completion rate for life skills,” LaCour-Duckworth said.
Apprentices then attended eight weeks of classes at either Delgado Community College in New Orleans or Baton Rouge Community College. The automotive technology courses were certified by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence. At the same time, apprentices shadowed technicians at seven of the 10 participating dealerships.
“Every participant got the opportunity to spend two to three days at each dealership learning culture and networking to see if it was a good fit,” said Ronnie King, director of apprenticeships at the Urban League of Louisiana.
“The dealership also got to know the participants,” he said.
Apprentices were paid a stipend by the National Urban League for the life skills and community college portions of the program. Upon completion of the courses, apprentices indicated which dealership they wanted to work for, while participating dealerships also indicated whom they would like to hire.
After an interview process, the apprentices were hired to do up to two years of paid on-the-job training as full-time employees of a dealership. They are in that phase now.
Justin Dodd, who once managed industrial sanitation crews at food processing plants, now works as an apprentice technician at Banner Chevrolet in New Orleans. Dodd said Banner was his first choice, because the dealership services every vehicle make and model.
He is not surprised that he loves the work. “My grandfather loved automotive things,” Dodd said. “It’s in my blood if it’s cars.”
The structure of the program is ideal, he added, because it has milestones and allows him to set goals and accomplish them. The support of the National Urban League also is key.
“One of the main things I like about this program is how the Urban League [goes] out of their way to see that you do nothing but succeed,” Dodd said. “They are the backbone of this program.”
The National Urban League is already looking at ways to improve the apprenticeship program, bringing employers into the planning process earlier.
LaCour-Duckworth wants to build support groups to attract more women to the profession. Two apprentices in the inaugural class were women, and both were hired by participating dealerships. “We have to build more safe spaces where [women] feel they can come into this industry,” LaCour-Duckworth said.
She also would like to see a higher hourly wage. “We want careers, not survival jobs,” LaCour-Duckworth said.
The Urban League of Louisiana has asked NADA to consider other higher-paying dealership positions as part of the program.
“We are still building opportunities off this automotive apprenticeship,” LaCour-Duckworth said.
Mills employs two apprentices at his Honda dealership in Harvey, La., and plans to hire several for his Ford dealership there. He is all for expanding the apprenticeship program.
“I’m excited to be part of it and excited to see how it will continue to meet a need that we all have,” he said. “It should be done nationally as quickly as possible.”