ECC Continues Partnership with Metallica Scholars Initiative
East Central College will continue to be a member of the Metallica Scholars Initiative (MSI) for the fourth consecutive year, maintaining its distinction as the only community college in Missouri selected for the workforce education program.
The MSI is led by All Within My Hands (AWMH), a nonprofit foundation established by the members and management of Metallica. The program directly supports community colleges in enhancing their career and technical education programs, with the goal of preparing more students for skilled trades careers that offer family-sustaining wages.
“We’re so proud to remain a part of the Metallica Scholars family,” said Joel Doepker, ECC vice president of external relations. “The program is key to recruiting and retaining students in our four manufacturing programs. We know the manufacturing industry is important to the region, where one in four jobs in Franklin County is in manufacturing, and the college plays a key role in developing and maintaining the local workforce.”
Since 2022, ECC has awarded 212 scholarships to 120 students studying welding, heating and air-conditioning, precision machining, or industrial engineering. The scholarships help students overcome barriers by covering tuition, fees, textbooks, program-specific tools, child care and transportation.
ECC will receive $10,000 from All Within My Hands for the 2025 academic year. Additional funding is raised through the Fall Music Festival, a free community event hosted on the Union campus. This year’s festival is set for Friday, Aug. 22, from 4:30-8:30 p.m. on the ECC quad, with food, alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages available for purchase.
The deadline to apply for a Metallica Scholars scholarship is Friday, Aug. 8, at noon.
National Reach and Impact
The Metallica Scholars Initiative was launched in 2019 by All Within My Hands in partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). It began with 10 colleges focused on manufacturing programs and has since expanded to 75 colleges across all 50 states and the territory of Guam. It is expected to reach approximately 10,000 students in Year 7, with nearly $3 million in total grant funding—the largest annual investment since the program began.
“I could not be any prouder of our Metallica Scholars,” said Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo. “We know that our country needs millions of skilled tradespeople, and it warms my heart to know that our foundation’s efforts are making a positive impact and putting hard-working people on the path to careers in the trades.
“To think we started with a few schools and a couple hundred students, and we’re now in 75 schools nationwide, about to reach 10,000 students—it’s just incredible.”
The University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy recently conducted an independent analysis of the program’s return on investment (ROI), examining more than 350 fields of study across all MSI partner institutions. The research found that MSI graduates can expect to earn 8.3 times the cost of their program within the first year of employment—an exceptionally high ROI.
“2025 is a watershed moment for the Metallica Scholars Initiative,” said Peter Delgrosso, executive director of All Within My Hands. “With the addition of 15 new schools this fall and USC’s independent research articulating the strength of our results, we are eager to tackle the quantifiable shortage of skilled labor our nation faces.
“If we extrapolate these ROI numbers over a career, it demonstrates how effective and profitable learning a trade can be for the individual, and how society as a whole also benefits from community college graduates.”
Continued Investment and Support
Year No. 7 also includes a renewed partnership with the Lowe’s Foundation, which has committed $1 million in support of MSI this year as part of its five-year, $50 million commitment to prepare 50,000 people for skilled trades careers.
MSI is also supported by several long-standing corporate partners, including workwear manufacturers Carhartt and Wolverine, as well as CNH Industrial, a global leader in agricultural and construction equipment. These partners, along with the extended Metallica family of fans, have been instrumental in supporting the mission of All Within My Hands since its founding.
To date, AWMH has granted more than $25 million to support workforce education, fight food insecurity and provide disaster relief. Of that total, $13.5 million has gone toward career and technical education programs, $7.5 million to hunger relief efforts, and more than $5 million to communities in crisis.
To learn more about the Metallica Scholars Initiative and All Within My Hands, visit www.allwithinmyhands.org or follow the foundation on Instagram, X, Facebook and LinkedIn.
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