Join The MVIM Family of Scholarships

At the MVIM, we hear time and again from students who receive scholarships through our programs and how they benefit from both the financial assistance and the knowledge that their community believes in them enough to subsidize their education. A new study by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, The Undereducated American, confirms the importance of helping more students get into, and complete an education beyond high school. The study's authors, Anthony P. Carnevale and Stephen J. Rose, found that over the past 30 years, the demand for college-educated workers has outpaced supply—and we will need to add 20 million post-secondary educated workers to the economy by 2025 and Canada is no different. Both the job requirements and day-to-day activities of auto mechanics have also already changed in measurable ways. Vocational training on the job, hands-on learning used to be a hallmark of auto mechanics. But cars and the systems that make them run become more complex each year, and now mechanics must attend frequent software training in order to remain up-to-date. The industry consensus is that there is a serious lack of automotive technicians who are able to work on the advanced technology in vehicles today, and that shortage is likely to continue. The same holds true of auto refinishing. As light vehicle OEMs continue to introduce new substrates and technology that require special equipment and formulations to repair, the complexity of the auto refinishing process increases. For example; the Ford F150 represents the first high volume use of aluminum as OEMs continue the evolution of lightweight substrates driven by the need to meet new standards. The auto refinish market will need to evolve with training, certifications, and equipment to stay current and relevant. Smart vehicle technology, like brake assist, will put less wear and tear on vehicles, meaning fewer trips to the shop for tune-ups, and (hopefully) fewer crashes and collisions. But, when the cars of the future do get to the repair shop, mechanics and technicians will need to understand and work with increasingly complex computer systems. Alternative-fuel vehicles undoubtedly will change (and already have changed) mechanical training as they look completely different under the hood than combustion engines. In fact, electric vehicles don’t have an engine at all. Instead, they have batteries that power electric motors. While training will necessarily have to shift to accommodate alternative-fuel-powered vehicles, gas-powered cars aren’t going anywhere soon, and mechanical training will still need to focus on traditional engines and vehicles systems.

Why contribute to MVIM? Of course many will say that helping others “is the right thing to do,” but there’s more to it than that. A study to examine if there is a direct connection between one’s financial and emotional wealth, conducted at the Harvard Business School by Professor Michael Norton and his colleagues, “showed that those who reported spending more on others, what the team called ‘prosocial’ spending, also reported a greater level of happiness, while how much they spent on themselves had no impact on happiness.” That’s right; spending money on someone else can make you even happier than spending it on yourself! If you would like to create a scholarship legacy for yourself or a family member, business or would like to make a donation. Donations to the scholarship funds are invested in perpetuity and only the income generated for grantmaking will be used for the purposes outlined above. Official tax receipts will be issued for donations received. We Invite You to Become a Part of the Motor Vehicle Industry of Manitoba Scholarship Family. We have three different opportunities for you to consider: Opportunity 1: Donate to an existing MVIM Scholarship fund by clicking here. Opportunity 2: By starting a named scholarship in your name or your business, or in memory of a loved one under the Motor Vehicle Industry of Manitoba umbrella. Please contact Ian Rogers, Chair at lirogers@mvim.ca or Joyce Sobering, Vice-Chair at sobering@mvim.ca to discuss any questions you may have. Opportunity 3: By becoming a funder to the MVIM, as contributions’ are always welcome to assist in the operation of the Scholarship program, as well as for the presentation dinner held annually in June. Please contact Ian Rogers, Chair at lirogers@mvim.ca or Joyce Sobering, Vice-Chair at sobering@mvim.ca to discuss any questions you may have.