London Sentinel-Echo
Improving lives through education $1 million grant awarded for five-year project
Approximately 1,450 persons in Laurel County would be served through a program designed to help citizens improve their economic conditions through additional schooling.
The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Somerset Community College $200,000 for the first year of a 5-year grant to establish and operate the South Kentucky Educational Opportunity Center. EOC is not a physical facility, but a program of information and outreach services. EOC services will be provided in cooperation with local schools and organizations in 13 counties served by the Somerset Community and Technical College District beginning this month. The grant will assist area residents in entering college and receiving financial aid to pay for college or postsecondary technical education programs through the year 2007. Altogether, South Kentucky EOC will serve approximately 6,000 South Kentucky residents.
U.S. Department of Education grants to the college to provide educational opportunity services to adults in South Kentucky now total $574,172 during the past year. Under a program funded earlier by USDOE’s Office of Migrant Education, the college is already offering high school equivalency instruction that will assist 500 migrant and seasonal farm workers to complete GED (high school equivalency) programs between 2002 and 2007.
Through Somerset Community College's Migrant Higher Education Program (Project BEAM - Bringing Education and Achievement to Migrants), in the counties surrounding Lake Cumberland, GED services are available at no charge, with stipends provided for transportation and meals, to seasonal agricultural workers whose primary language is either English or Spanish. (In some counties, the number of Spanish-speaking residents is now estimated to more than 10 times as high as in 1990.)
South Kentucky Educational Opportunity Center services will be carried out in the field in 13 South Kentucky counties: Adair, Casey, Clinton, Cumberland, Jackson, Laurel, Lincoln, McCreary, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Russell, Wayne, and Whitley. Educational opportunity specialists working with local organizations and schools will provide information and assistance to low-income, out-of-school adults to raise their awareness of educational opportunities and help them enroll in postsecondary education or in adult education programs that can lead to postsecondary education.
Announcing the new EOC project, SCTCD Chief Executive Officer Jo Marshall said, “We were very excited when Congressman Rogers’ office called us with the news about funding for the EOC. The new educational opportunity services will allow us to carry out one of the most important parts of our mission -- to help men and women now in their mid or late twenties, or older, to benefit from education they may have missed for any number of good reasons when they were 18, 19 or 20.”
President Marshall also pointed out the relation of the college’s outreach educational opportunity to services to Kentucky’s Education Pays programs. "Governor Patton strongly endorsed our application for these funds,” she said, “and he will be helping us carry out an Education Pays campaign that will involve several thousand school children from every school in our region beginning this fall.”
In this campaign, children will write “Education Pays, and Is Possible” news articles for their local newspapers and will develop posters to be displayed in their communities. Each school’s winners in the article and poster contests will be recognized through awards from the Governor's office. “The children will actually become a part of the Kentucky's Education Pays effort, and will be involved in teaching their parents and adult neighbors the value of education,” Dr. Marshall said.
The need for adults to obtain more schooling is critical for the economic development of South Kentucky. More than 100,000 South Kentucky adults need to prepare themselves for better jobs through education, said EOC Director Stewart Phillips “People with two-year college associate degrees earn 65 percent more than people without a high school diploma, and about 23 percent more than people with only a high school diploma or GED,” Phillips explained.
A toll-free number can be used to learn more about opportunities for entering a GED program or college. Call 1-877-629-9772, and ask for Somerset Community College's Education Opportunity Services office. Information about GED and college programs, and about ways to pay for college through financial aid, will be brought or sent to the caller. It is not necessary to visit the college to obtain information.
The Somerset Community and Technical College District is a United States Department of Agriculture National Center of Excellence. The NCE program has assisted the college in becoming active in the Empowerment Zone, Enterprise Community and Champion Community program. The USDA supported the SCTCD in obtaining this new program.
The Somerset Community and Technical College District includes three colleges in five locations: Somerset Technical College, Somerset Community College, Laurel Technical College, the SCC McCreary County Center and the SCC Laurel County Center. The district is one of 16 in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. The colleges of KCTCS prepare Kentuckians for employment in today's competitive workforce, provide upgrade or additional training for those already in the workforce, train those who desire to change occupations, offer degree and transfer programs to four-year colleges and universities and provide life-long learning opportunities in a community-based setting.
Lexington-Herald-Leader
Trying to steer customers their way Independents fixing to get market share
Jack Brandenburg began his career as a mechanic repairing go-karts and lawn mowers on the family farm at age 10. Within a few years, he started repairing cars for his family and friends.
Back then, he needed only a few tools -- a jack, a wrench, pliers and screwdrivers.
Now, his shop on Versailles Road is filled with thousands of dollars in computer technology, equipment he depends on to make even the smallest repairs.
"Before, all you needed was a few tools and a good knowledge of how a car looked under the hood," he said. "These days, cars are so computerized that you have to take it to a mechanic, and the mechanic has to have special training and special tools to do anything."
As cars become increasingly sophisticated, modern repair shops are becoming more like elaborate labs, staffed by computer-savvy technicians, and equipped with costly electronic equipment.
And as motorists replace older cars with computer-equipped models, the need for more training and expensive technology is expected to drive some one- and two-employee repair shops out of business.
"The day of the back-yard or shade-tree mechanic has passed," said Forrest Stewardson, automotive technology instructor at Mayo Technical College in Pike-ville. "The industry has changed just as dramatically as the cars we work on. Mechanics who are resistant to the changes and who don't get the proper training and tools will be out of business in a few years."
Access to technology
In the 1990s, the Clean Air Act required that auto manufacturers make their proprietary data for diagnosis and repair of emissions systems available to all mechanics. Emissions systems include engine, transmission, fuel and emissions control.
But shop owners say they have found it difficult to obtain information on other systems, such as anti-lock brakes, air bags, locks and power steering.
Congressional hearings on a bill that would require auto manufacturers to release more repair codes and data to independent mechanics are expected to begin this week. The bill would offer more car owners the option of going to after-market repair shops rather than dealership service centers, which typically charge more for labor, said Aaron Lowe, vice president of government affairs for the Automotive Service Association.
"This is a consumer's bill," he said. "We're protecting the right of the consumer to choose where they get their cars fixed. The smaller shops are having to turn away customers to the dealers because they don't have the repair codes and technology necessary to diagnose problems."
But manufacturers say supporters of the bill aren't so noble as to have consumers' best interests at heart.
Charles Territo, spokes-man for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said manufacturers see the bill as a ploy by after-market groups to obtain proprietary data to clone parts, a multi-million-dollar industry in America.
Territo said the bill is unnecessary because members of the alliance -- including Ford, DaimlerChrysler, GM, Nissan and Toyota -- have agreed to make non-emissions-related data available starting in January 2003.
But there will be exceptions. Manufacturers contend that releasing data on systems such as anti-theft features and air bags could compromise the safety and security of automobiles, he said.
Gary Smith, national manager of service technology for Toyota and Lexus, said "100 percent" of the technical data and diagnostic tools and software the company provides to dealerships is also available to independent shops and car owners.
Smith said Toyota and other manufacturers benefit from making the data available to after-market shops.
"We know that our customers' ownership experience extends well beyond our dealers," he said. "Of the total Toyota population, 40 to 50 percent are not serviced at Toyota establishments, so it's in our best interest to make sure they have a good experience wherever they go."
The cost of access
But while the information is available, shop owners say, it's not always accessible. And it's expensive.
Mechanics pay monthly or hourly fees to manufacturers or to companies like Alldata, one of the nation's leading providers of diagnostic and repair information, for access via Web sites or CDs and DVDs.
Alldata spokesman Tom Purser said customers generally spend about $180 a month for the information. The company updates its online site daily or weekly, and updates its software about four times a year.
Repair shops must also buy diagnostic tools and equipment from Snap-on or similar companies. And more tools are needed as new motor vehicles are introduced.
Tom Mitchell, owner of Mitch's Auto Repair on Industry Road, said his expenses include about $2,200 a year for Alldata services, $1,500 a year for repair manuals, $2,000 a year for updates to two scanners in the shop, and about $1,800 a year for a Scope computer, a system that can be hooked up to a car's ignition system to diagnose problems.
"It's an expensive business to be in," Mitchell said. "A lot of customers don't realize the investment we make in technology. And with a smaller shop, to stay competitive, you can't always pass all of the cost on to the customer."
Technicians also must take hours of training each year to stay on top of technology changes.
Stewardson, the instructor in Pikeville, said training and education requirements for mechanics have changed dramatically as cars have become more sophisticated, and will continue to do so.
Students there are trained on the latest technology available because of partnerships between the college and automakers.
To obtain national certification, mechanics need technology training. The mechanic must answer sophisticated questions about the latest automotive technology. The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence certifies 250,000 mechanics a year.
"A person could walk out of high school and into a garage and get a job, back 20, 25 years ago," Stewardson said. "Now, it's impossible. The ... new technology and diagnostic equip-ment actually makes it easier to fix cars, but you have to know what you're doing."
Survival of the fittestThe cost of doing business is taking its toll on the after-market industry.
The latest trend is consolidation as smaller shops merge, expand or diversify to provide more services.
Dealerships are making an effort to keep customers coming back even after warranties expire. That puts pressure on independent repair shops.
Dealers that have invested heavily in service and parts have seen sales rise steadily in the last decade, according to a survey by the National Automobile Dealers Association.
Mike Simon, brand manager for Ford Motor Co.'s customer-service division, said Ford's Quality Car Maintenance program was established for that reason.
Under the program, the company schedules the customer's first service appointment and introduces the customer to a service adviser at the time of purchase. The company makes sure that services such as oil changes, lube jobs and brake maintenance are competitively priced. Ford sends customers reminders that maintenance is due.
Most recently, some Ford shops have added weekend service. In addition, customers can go online to schedule service appointments, and can use Ford credit cards to spread out payments under a 90-day-same-as-cash program.
But independent mechanics and some car owners say smaller shops have more to offer.
Gene Byrd of Byrd Automotive in Nicholasville, who specializes in Toyotas, said customers find smaller shops more personable and less expensive.
"The owner is much more involved, so you can establish some trust with them," he said.
Brent Atwood, a Lexington resident, said he prefers the smaller shops.
"I believe they are more honest and more focused on customer service because they know they have competition," he said. "I've gone to dealerships, and first of all waited forever to get an appointment, then paid hundreds of dollars to get my car fixed, only to drive out of the garage and have the same problem. Then I've gone to a smaller shop only to have them tell me the problem was some small thing" that the dealership had overlooked.