The ASE Education Foundation has been awarded a $25 million, four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to expand registered apprenticeships for auto, collision and truck service technicians nationwide — the largest workforce investment the department has ever directed to the transportation service industry, according to the foundation.

The award comes through the department's Pay-for-Performance Incentive Payments Program, and the idea behind it is refreshingly simple: reward employers with registered apprenticeships for hiring apprentices and coaching them through the make-or-break first year on the job.

Program sponsors in the form of dealer groups, shop associations, franchise operators and similar organizations will receive $3,500 for each apprentice they bring on and keep, paid in two parts as the technician reaches 90 and 270 days on the job.

The industry has openings for far more technicians than it can find: roughly 128,000 needed each year while training programs produce about 37,000.

The harder problem is keeping them. Only about one in eight entry-level technicians is still on the job three years in, the foundation says, a gap the grant is built to close, not by chasing more resumes but by making sure people who start stay.

To do that, the foundation is putting mentorship at the center. Every dollar is tied to a technician reaching real milestones, which gives sponsors a direct stake in the coaching, support and structure that keep a hire in the bay and on a path forward, the foundation said.

Registered apprenticeships are a proven way to grow the workforce, according to the foundation, which says studies show employers realize an average return of $1.47 for every dollar invested, and over 90% of apprentices stay with the same employer when they complete the program.

Employers who have an existing registered apprenticeship can participate, and those who don’t won't have to build their programs from scratch. The foundation and the National Automobile Dealers Association provide a ready-made playbook — the free Apprenticeship-in-a-Box — covering everything from mentor training to interview guides, so a shop can stand up a credible program quickly.

The foundation is leading the effort with an industry coalition. Other initial partners include the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, the American Truck Dealers, and Jobs for the Future, which will manage the incentive payments and federal reporting.

Together they will engage employers, schools and prospective technicians in all 50 states, the five territories and the District of Columbia. The foundation is actively recruiting more partners, and apprenticeships will be created across the industry in franchised dealerships, retail chains, fleets, body shops, truck and diesel repair shops and independent auto repair shops.

“Every driver on the road depends on a skilled technician they may never meet. For more than forty years, our job has been to make sure those technicians are trained to a standard the industry demands and the public can trust,” said Mike Coley, president of the ASE Education Foundation. “This grant lets us do something the industry has needed for a long time: open a clear, paid path into the trade, and give employers a proven way to invest in and grow the people who keep this country moving.

We’re not just filling jobs. We’re building careers that can support a family for a lifetime, strengthening the shops and dealers that serve their communities, and protecting the motoring public who trusts all of us every time they start their car.”

Recruitment begins immediately. Employers looking to develop their own technicians, schools looking to place their students, and anyone considering the trade as a career can learn more and sign up for updates here.