APPLY FOR THE COLLISION REPAIR EDUCATION FOUNDATION BENCHMARK GRANT-due July 1st.
- 2022 Budget Template for the Grant Application (see application for more details on how to fill it out)
- Click Here for more information on the Benchmark Tiers
New Award Categories for 2022!
- Attraction/Recruitment
- Highlight efforts your school is making to attract and recruit students and new talent into your program and therefore into the collision repair industry. How will this grant assist you in attracting more students to your program?
- Program Maintenance
- Explain the equipment and/or training you and your school needs to keep the program a viable option for the demands of preparing collision repair professionals. How will this grant help you maintain a successful program?
- Program Additions (working towards next Tier in the Benchmark Readiness Program)
- Explain what you need tools and/or equipment that will bring you closer to meeting the next tier outlined by CREF. How will this grant help you meet the next available tier?
- Employment
- Highlight how you are making the connection between your program and the employers in your area. How are you assisting your students in becoming more employable? How will this grant increase student employability?
- Wildcard: Fueling Innovation Grant
- Highlight the exciting, new, innovative ways you and/or your program is training our next generation. Or—What great idea do you have that with this grant you can create innovation at your school or in your program?
About the Benchmark Grant
The Collision Repair Education Foundation Benchmark Grant debuted in 2009 as the “Ultimate Collision Education Makeover” grant when Steel Center Area Vocational Technical School (Jefferson Hills, PA) was chosen as the recipient of the award. Since then, over 200 schools have benefitted from the grant awards. As an added benefit to the grant, the schools that applied for the grant who didn’t win still benefited from the Benchmark grant program by receiving various supplies, tools, and equipment.
The goal of the Benchmark grants is to honor schools that have been doing an outstanding job in educating students in collision repair, but needs some financial assistance to improve their program’s teaching materials and equipment. With strained school budgets, we are honored to have the opportunity to bridge the program’s financial gap and to make a difference in the lives of the students studying collision repair.
Although it may seem like this application requires a great deal of information, the attachments are meant to give the Education Foundation a full and complete picture of what applying collision programs looks like and its future potential. With so many collision schools that deserve this award, we want to ensure each school is able to put forth the best application possible.
The winners are selected by a Selection Committee composed of industry members and the winners are announced at SEMA.
What does your collision program need for a “makeover”?
2021 Benchmark Grant Applicant Schools
Earnest Pruett Center of Technology (Hollywood, AL)
West-MEC (Phoenix, AZ)
East Valley Institute of Technology (Mesa, AZ)
Gateway Community College Central City Campus (Phoenix, AZ)
Livermore High School (Livermore, CA)
American River College (Sacramento, CA)
Dos Palos High School (Dos Palos, CA)
Contra Costa College (San Pablo, CA)
Morgan Community College (Ft. Morgan, CO)
Warren Tech (Lakewood, CO)
Aims Community College Automotive Programs (Windsor, CO)
Hodgson Vo-Tech (Newark, DE)
Lake Technical College (Eustis, FL)
Hillsborough Community College (Tampa, FL)
Seminole High School (Sanford, FL)
Sheridan Technical College (Hollywood, FL)
Lorenzo Walker Technical College (Naples, FL)
Maxwell High School of Technology (Lawrenceville, GA)
North Georgia Technical College (Clarkesville, GA)
Athens Technical College (Athens, GA)
Etowah High School (Woodstock, GA)
Chattahoochee Technical College (Jasper, GA)
Paulding County High School (Dallas, GA)
North Idaho College (Coeur d’Alene, ID)
Kootenai Technical Education Campus (Rathdrum, ID)
Lewis-Clark State College (Lewiston, ID)
Dennis Technical Education Center (Boise, ID)
Thornton Fractional H.S. Center for Academics & Technology (Calumet City, IL)
Kennedy King College (Chicago, IL)
Marengo Comm HS Dist 154 (Marengo, IL)
Prosser Career Education Center (New Albany, IN)
Area30 Career Center (Greencastle, IN)
Walker Career Center (Indianapolis, IN)
Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana (Fort Wayne, IN)
Des Moines Area Community College (Ankeny, IA)
Hawkeye Community College (Waterloo, IA)
Southeastern Community College (West Burlington, IA)
Big Sandy Community & Technical College (Prestonsburg, KY)
Baton Rouge Community College (Baton Rouge, LA)
Oxford Hills Technical School/ Maine Vocational Region 11 (Norway, ME)
Gaithersburg High School (Gaithersburg, MD)
Carroll County Career and Technology Center (Westminster, MD)
Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical High School (Fitchburg, MA)
Bay Path (Charlton, MA)
Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School (Palmer, MA)
Assabet Valley Regional Technical Hight School (Marlboro, MA)
Greater Lowell Technical High School (Tyngsboro, MA)
RCTC Ypsilanti Community Schools (Ypsilanti, MI)
South Central College (North Mankato, MN)
Minnesota State College Southeast (Winona, MN)
Hennepin Technical College (Eden Prairie, MN)
Holmes County Career Tech Center (Lexington, MS)
Nichols Career Center (Jefferson City, MO)
Lex La-Ray Technical Center (Lexington, MO)
North Technical High School (Florissant, MO)
South Technical High School (Sunset Hills, MO)
Lewis and Clark Career Center (St. Charles, MO)
Gibson Technical Center (Reeds Spring, MO)
Ranken Technical College (St. Louis, MO)
Franklin Technology (Joplin, MO)
Perryville Area Career & Technology Center (Perryville, MO)
Montana State University Billings City College (Billings, MT)
Metropolitan Community College (Omaha, NE)
Southeast Community College (Milford, NE)
Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools (Piscataway, NJ)
Gloucester County Institute of Technology (Sewell, NJ)
Salem County Career & Technical High School (Woodstown, NJ)
San Juan College (Farmington, NM)
Cattaraugus Allegany BOCES Center (Ellicottville, NY)
GST BOCES Coopers Education Center (Painted Post, NY)
Erie Community College South (Orchard Park, NY)
CA BOCES-CTE Center (Olean, NY)
W.D. Ormsby Educational Center (East Aurora, NY)
Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES (Auburn, NY)
New York Automotive & Diesel Institute (Jamaica, NY)
Fayetteville Technical Community College (Fayetteville, NC)
Iredell-Statesville Career Academy & Technical School (Troutman, NC)
Sandhills Community College (Pinehurst, NC)
Stanly Community College (Albemarle, NC)
Wayne Community College (Goldsboro, NC)
North Dakota State College of Science (Wahpeton, ND)
Washington County Career Center (Marietta, OH)
Ft. Hayes Career Center (Columbus, OH)
EHOVE Career Center (Milan, OH)
Waite High School (Toledo, OH)
Miami Valley Career Technical Center (Englewood, OH)
Dauphin County Technical School (Harrisburg, PA)
Northern Westmoreland Career & Technology Center (New Kensington, PA)
Rosedale Technical College (Pittsburgh, PA)
Berks Career and Technology Center (Oley, PA)
Lebanon County Career and Technology Center (Lebanon, PA)
Forbes Road CTC (Monroeville, PA)
Eastern Center for Arts and Technology (Willow Grove, PA)
Susquehanna County Career Technology Center (Springville, PA)
Pennsylvania College of Technology (Williamsport, PA)
Central Montco Technical High School (Plymouth Meeting, PA)
Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology (Lancaster, PA)
Jeff Tech (Reynoldsville, PA)
Union County Career and Technology Center (Union, SC)
Woolard Technology Center (Camden, SC)
Greenville Technical College (Greenville, SC)
Greene Technology Center (Greeneville, TN)
Tennessee College of Applied Technology (Morristown, TN)
Northwest High School (Clarksville, TN)
Ben W Hooper CTE Center (Newport, TN)
South Plains College (Levelland, TX)
Collin College Technical Campus (Allen, TX)
Kingwood Park High School (Kingwood, TX)
JB Hensler College and Career Academy (aka Alvin ISD) (Manvel, TX)
Judson High School (Converse, TX)
Duncanville High School (Duncanville, TX)
Ogden high school (Ogden, UT)
Tidewater Community College (Chesapeake, VA)
Monroe Advanced Technical Academy “MATA” @ the Academies of Loudoun (Leesburg, VA)
Dowell J Howard Center (Winchester, VA)
Wenatchee Valley Tech (Wenatchee, WA)
Mercer County Technical Education Center (Princeton, WV)
Tucker County High School Career Center (Hambleton, WV)
Fox Valley Technical College (Appleton, WI)
Chippewa Valley Technical College (Eau Claire, WI)
Freedom High School (Freedom, WI)
Germantown High School (Germantown, WI)