HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – NACE Show attendees will notice a new name for the I-CAR Education Foundation. At NACE 2010, the foundation says it will officially begin using its new name – the Collision Repair Education Foundation.

Executive Director Scott Kruger said the name and logo change was reflective of the organization’s new mission and vision of supporting the future of the collision industry by enriching opportunities for collision repair students and schools.

The Collision Repair Education Foundation’s overall goal is to support the pre-employment segment of the collision industry. The Education Foundation’s funding focus is on secondary and post-secondary career and technical school and college collision programs and their students.

“The Collision Repair Education Foundation today is singularly focused on grant and scholarship support of high school and post-secondary collision repair programs,” said Kruger. “Our organization is 100 percent funded by charitable donations, and we can meet the needs of schools and students only through the generous support of the entire collision industry. Our new name is reflective of the fact that collision education programs need the support of the entire collision industry.”

Kruger also emphasized that the Collision Repair Education Foundation and I-CAR will continue their partnership in supporting education for the entire industry.

“I-CAR is the obvious subject-matter expert on the education and training needs of the collision employee – from the student to the entry-level employee to the most experienced technician,” Kruger added. “Collision repair schools need I-CAR to provide the best training methods for their future collision repair technicians, and schools also need funding and donations of the right tools, materials and equipment so that instructors have the proper tools to teach their students.”

For almost 20 years, the Collision Repair Education Foundation has supported career and technical school and college collision repair programs through curriculum development, sales, and support and philanthropic scholarships and grants. In 2008, the Education Foundation moved the curriculum and training functions to I-CAR and focused its mission entirely on charitable support for schools and instructors. Last year, the organization provided more than $1.6 million in grants to education programs nationwide.

To learn more about the Collision Repair Education Foundation, click here.