Carhartt and Metallica Foundation Award ECC $50,000

The band Metallica’s All Within My Hands Foundation (AWMH) and Carhartt are awarding East Central College $50,000 through Carhartt’s “For the Love of Labor” grant.

The “For the Love of Labor” grant will support women seeking education in the skilled trades programs. Five community colleges nationwide will each receive $50,000 to bolster women in career and technical education programs and promote the Metallica Scholars Initiative.

“This award acknowledges the work ECC does to provide Manufacturing career opportunities for our area’s business and industry.” said Joel Doepker, ECC Vice President of External Relations. “There are great opportunities for well-compensated positions with benefits, and this award increases our ability to focus on women pursuing a career in Manufacturing.”

The grant is funded by a single day of online sales of Carhartt women’s apparel earlier this year.

AWMH is working with Carhartt to shine a light on and address the skilled trades gap and highlight the women entering these essential jobs. The organizations are pushing against the narrative that women are less capable of handling work in the trades.

ECC will spend a large majority of the award on scholarships for women registered in Welding, Heating and Air-Conditioning, Industrial Engineering Technology, and the Precision Machining programs in the fall 2024 and spring 2025 semesters. The scholarship will assist students with the cost of tuition, fees, books, toolkits and provide a student stipend.

A primary reason ECC was selected is due to the number of women receiving a scholarship through the Metallica Scholars program, which provides scholarships in ECC’s Advanced Manufacturing programs.

“We were impressed with the number of women enrolled in the programs they profiled,” said Renee Richardson, Director of Philanthropy at Metallica’s Foundation, All Within My Hands. “It’s important to provide opportunities for women in the advanced manufacturing programs, and we think ECC will use the funding well.”

The Carhartt “For the Love of Labor” scholarship application is available online at Carhartt “For the Love of Labor” scholarship page.