Dealerships get techs, at-risk youths gain jobs

A Houston nonprofit is trying to empower kids who have aged out of foster care, are homeless or otherwise at risk by providing technical training that could give a lifeline to both the young trainees and dealership service departments.

Launched in June, the intensive seven-week technical program is an initiative of the Petra Cares Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Petra Automotive Products, a distributor in the U.S. and abroad of self-branded auto-related cleaners and additives for fuel, cooling, air conditioning and brake systems.

Each cohort will complete 192 hours of instruction and is expected to have 10 to 20 students, said Brian Meza, the foundation's executive director. The goal is for the students to earn ASE entry-level certification to prepare them for tasks such as tire mounting, wheel alignments, maintenance, and radiator and fuel-injection services. The last week is about life skills, where they'll be coached on goal setting, financial literacy, effective communication skills, etiquette, time management and personal hygiene.

The plan is to run three groups per calendar year, with a fourth being considered. The instructor is Rodney Schield of Lone Star College, which is ASE accredited. Schield, an auto service veteran, was shop foreman of River Oaks Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram, which has been a landmark Houston dealership for more than 50 years.

Under Schield's tutelage, Petra Cares' teens recently savored that precious "aha!" moment by bringing a neglected Dodge Charger back to life. Their troubleshooting journey included checking for spark, compression and crankshaft sensor operation. All checked out, pretty much leaving the fuel system as the culprit. They wound up dropping the gasoline tank, revealing gasoline that resembled "crude oil" and at least one missing fuel injector O-ring that months or years ago had mysteriously disappeared.

Student Richard Arredondo said he has always been interested in fixing cars.

"I like taking things apart but it's a lot harder putting them back together," he said, proudly noting the class recently "took apart a complete alternator and put it back together."

Arredondo works at Kramer Autoplex in Livingston, Texas, north of Houston but hopes to continue his schooling with an eye toward engineering.

Participant Caleb Shelton said he wants to "build a car from the ground up. Petra Cares can help me understand the actual things I need to build a car. I'm looking forward to graduating, getting a job and setting myself up for the future."

Arnold Gacita, founder of Petra Automotive, said the program is "not seven weeks of feeling good."

"No, this is bringing kids in, teaching them, loving on them and putting them in a job where they're going to excel and succeed," he said.

A key Petra Cares goal is to help the teens — who will each receive a box of tools and a cart valued at $1,500 upon graduation — land jobs at dealerships.

"They'll start at $4,000 to $5,000 a month," Gacita said. "There's a need for 51,000 auto mechanics nationwide. It's crazy."

Getting the "flywheel turning" on the Petra Cares project has turned out to be both time-consuming and challenging, the foundation's Meza said. For starters, the June inaugural group had 10 students but by the fifth week the cohort was down to just four who would make up the first graduating class. Six trainees were cut from the program because of excessive absences (three is the maximum allowed) or marijuana use. Meza said of the 25 to 30 solid candidates they expect to apply for each session, about 18 will be accepted.

The second cohort graduated seven people Oct. 6. And on Monday, Oct. 9, 12 new program participants — including one young woman — will start the seven-week course.

Dealer Chuck Kramer, who serves on the Petra Cares advisory committee, has embraced the program.

"Technicians are the most important part of an auto dealership," said Kramer, whose stores in Livingston, Lufkin and Porter, Texas, north of Houston, represent GM, Stellantis and Kia brands. Kramer provides a loaner vehicle to Petra Cares to make sure the trainees have transportation home at the end of the day.

"I've invested my time and money to work with these individuals who have gone through the foster care system, to help them get jobs, not only in my stores, but through my friendships in the car business; they can go where they want to live," Kramer told Automotive News. "In 1983, I started out in the shop as a janitor. Then I became an entry-level technician. That was 40 years ago. Now I own dealerships. In high school, I took auto shop for two years. They just don't offer that anymore. There are so few curriculums that offer skill sets that you can use to get a job."

American children who age out of foster care often face a precarious future, said Paul Yetter, a Houston attorney who is representing Texas foster children for free in an ongoing landmark federal case against the state.

Studies have shown that within five years:

• 40 percent of foster youth were homeless.
• 40 percent were receiving public assistance or were incarcerated.
• 40 percent experienced drug or alcohol abuse.
• 46 percent had not finished high school.
• 51 percent were unemployed.
• 1 in 4 will attempt to take their own life.

Michelle Moore, presiding judge of the 314th Juvenile District Court in Houston's Harris County, was instrumental in getting the Petra Cares project off the ground.

"In Texas, foster care youth face many real-life challenges at a greater rate than the general population," she said. "Their prospects can be limited by a failure to adequately address their special needs. Most important, those without high school diplomas or GEDs face very limited upward mobility. Anything we can do to facilitate their education is the primary core of their well-being going forward."

Like Moore, Eric Andell has seen what happens when children are bounced from one foster home to another, eventually finding themselves alone and often homeless when they turn 18. There are about 25,000 foster children in Texas and a vast majority age out of the system at 18, said Andell, a former presiding judge of the 315th Juvenile District Court and currently an associate judge of the 314th Juvenile District Court

He said there needs to be a focus on helping young people get a job or learn a trade as they transition out of the system.

"This program is so dynamic, and it has a real chance of success," Andell said. "It's where the solutions lie. We can't undo a child's past, but we can sure make a kid's future brighter.

"That's the beauty and exciting part of it."