For the third year, the Collision Repair Education Foundation and AkzoNobel are once again collaborating to offer the Sustainability Challenge Grant for collision repair programs in secondary and post-secondary schools throughout the U.S. The application is part of the Collision Repair Education Foundation’s Ultimate Collision Education Makeover grant, and the deadline for both grants is June 3, 2016.

Schools are invited to submit proposals for applying continuous improvement and sustainability principles that improve the processes in the school’s body shop or improve the way the shop interacts and impacts the community. Projects are to be driven by teams of students, with the instructor serving as a mentor. Winning schools will receive funding to implement their proposed ideas and report on the success of their projects.

In addition to the awards, the program also serves as a way to educate collision students across the country about the principles of sustainability, the triple bottom line and ways in which students can make a positive impact on the environment. The sustainability video series, which is available at the Education Foundation’s website, is one of the tools made available by AkzoNobel for use by instructors to teach sustainability.

“We are happy to once again be partnering with AkzoNobel for the Sustainability Challenge Grant,” said Clark Plucinski, Collision Repair Education Foundation executive director. “Since the program began three years ago, over 200 collision students have participated in it. Their ideas about improving sustainability are very forward-thinking and have definitely made an impact on their program, school and community. We look forward to seeing what grant ideas will be presented this year.”