C&M believes strongly in connecting with area schools. We create and donate personalized blankets to kindergartners and hold an annual school supply drive for a number of nearby schools. We have donated and lent vehicles to area high school automotive classes. We have an open-door job shadowing policy. Shop students are encouraged to spend 4 hours at the dealership to learn about the work and gain skills. Students have even become employees afterwards.

The dealerships have worked with teachers and the schools over the last 10 years to grow the next group of technicians. We have found that working to engage local students is the most successful. At times, we lend the schools tools, give advice, print out workshop manuals, and more. Each year Paul and Tim, our Service Manager, visit approximately seven area schools and attend career fairs to show the schools what Ford and C&M have to offer.

The ACE program fits well with what C&M was already doing. According to Ford Field Service Engineer Cassandra Hopper, "C&M is the best in the area. They are very, very active and put in a ton of time. C&M has the longest consistent history engaging with the schools to find potential technicians."

Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Shop Teacher Nathan Wozniak began with the ACE program at the beginning of 2021. He appreciates having access to on-line training materials, tools, and cutting-edge information from the industry (what he refers to is the "latest and greatest from Ford and the industry.") C&M has donated two vehicles to Wozniak’s class over time. He said that they couldn’t have a program without these – "the level of student interaction and experience is a game changer because of these vehicles." The connection with C&M "has been a great resource for students. I’m excited to see where it goes next."

C&M has hosted a Tech Day and invited area schools to attend presentations about the dealerships and Ford at our local auditorium and the dealership. Shawn Deans, Ford Field Service Engineer and Ford ASSET Instructor Drew Goddard spoke to the students and teachers. Students were able to see the shop and some in-process engine work, in addition to speaking with technicians and other employees, including our F&I Manager. We discovered that Tech Day could easily expand to financing, accounting, and more dealership career options. We are anxious to plan more of these at the dealership once the pandemic allows. Wozniak described the day as a great opportunity for students to experience "a day in the life of a technician," as well as networking. They were able to connect with college instructors, other teachers and students, see the industry in real life, and even secure some scholarship funds from a local college.

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C&M and Roseau County Ford organized another Tech Day recently. Students from area high schools heard from Ford, Stellantis, Northland Community and Technical College and dealership employees about the auto industry, dealership careers, apprenticeships and scholarships, and other opportunities. They visited the shop, job shadowed, asked questions and ate lunch.

C&M and Roseau County Ford announced a Tech Student Loan Scholarship program worth $20,000!

This covers tuition and tool purchase assistance. The loans are forgiven by working at the dealerships. Specifically, this means:

• $15,000 tuition assistance over 2 years
• $5,000 tool purchase assistance over 2 years
• Earn $150 per online class completed over 2 years applied towards your tuition
• Work for 5 years at the dealership and loan will be forgiven.
• This is earned back at 20% per year worked.

C&M has also participated in the Ford ASSET program, as well as a State of Minnesota program Apprenticeship Minnesota. Apprenticeship Minnesota allowed 12 of our technicians received funds to use for training and to purchase tools.

In addition to the ACE and ASSET programs, C&M has developed and implemented policies to partly pay for students to attend technical college to become service technicians. We provide funds for college with a commitment to work at our dealerships afterwards. This homegrown program has been a successful tool for us to train and maintain technicians.