A Message from VADA President and CEO Don Hall
November 2024
In addition to the community college bus tour, Don also joined Sen. Travis Hackworth for an elk tour in Tazewell County.
This month, I was fortunate to join Virginia community college and state leaders for a workforce development bus tour of east Tennessee’s successful career and technical programs at their own community colleges.
I was the invited guest of my friend, Tazewell Senator Travis Hackworth, and attended alongside Virginia Community College System Chancellor David Doré, Ph.D., representatives of several regional community colleges, and other lawmakers. Southwest Virginia Community College hosted the tour, and I thank their president, Dr. Tommy Wright, for bringing us together.
It was a long but worthwhile day, visiting three Tennessee community colleges to learn more about our neighboring state’s successful education system, learn best practices, and benchmark Virginia’s own workforce development operations. Tennessee has made career and technical education, or CTE, a top priority. And the investment is paying off.
Their support for community colleges was evident. Their recent governors prioritized funding and resources to the schools, in turn creating robust programs, credits, and certifications that feed young men and women directly into promising and in-demand career fields.
Tennessee has championed its community colleges and recognized that vocational training is a critical part of our society (and to be sure, so has Virginia). Tennessee’s partnerships across the state, local industry, and educational institutions has made it a model for how career training and technical education can look.
And that includes automotive training. Many Tennessee schools have partnerships with industry, such as the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, which regularly provides the latest internal combustion and electric vehicles for students to develop their hands-on skills.
Seeing what is happening in Tennessee was a reminder of what we could bring back to Virginia. For our state to excel, we need a similar model where community colleges are valued by society and not considered “less than” a four-year institution.
And for us to succeed as an industry, we must ensure more dealers get involved with Virginia community colleges. VADA will take the lead to help develop these relationships, and ensure the schools also have close relationships with ASE (Automotive Service Excellence) to help students join the more than 250,000 people who hold ASE certifications. We need many more, and we need dealers’ help to get there.
In Virginia, we must give more people who don't have the option of earning a four-year college degree — due to money, grades, or interest — an opportunity where they can go to school, continue to work, and remain close to home. Virginia must recommit to its community college system.
We need more support for instructors, updated equipment, and a fresh approach to how we prepare young people for high-tech, skilled careers. We must work harder to provide opportunities for economic mobility for all Virginians.
I spoke with Chancellor Doré throughout the day, and it is clear the community colleges and dealers share a mutual interest in providing life-changing opportunities to kids and meeting the needs of the Commonwealth’s business — and retail automotive — community.
Virginia’s dealers have a role to play — whether through advisory councils, apprenticeships, or even supporting automotive programs financially. Ultimately, investing in community colleges is about giving back to the industry that has given so much to us while building a capable, local workforce ready to support Virginia’s automotive future.
How can Virginia dealers get involved?
VADA field representative Pat Martin and general manager Bruce McGeorge are leading up our effort to forge new relationships between dealers, community colleges, and ASE certification.
Contact Pat at pmartin@vada.com and Bruce at bmcgeorge@vada.com to get started.
