Make a Financial Contribution to Aviation Maintenance Workforce Development
Choose Aerospace is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) partnership of aerospace stakeholders, joined together to address one of the biggest threats to continued industry growth: the availability of a diverse, qualified technical workforce.
A primary objective for Choose Aerospace is to expand aerospace career and technical training in secondary schools and to provide multiple career paths to success within the industry. To that end, the organization—in partnership with the Aviation Technician Education Council (ATEC), Clemson University, academia, and industry—created aviation maintenance technical curriculum for deployment in high schools and community-based programs.
The curriculum aligns with the general subject areas of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Mechanic Airman Certification Standards (ACS) and puts students on a direct path to certification. Individuals that complete the approximately 500 hours of coursework may pursue airframe and powerplant mechanic (A&P) or repairman certification through work experience or by finishing the required coursework at one of the more than 180 FAA-certificated programs in the U.S.
After a two-year development period and a year-long pilot test, five hundred students are expected to enroll in the curriculum during the 2022-2023 academic year. The Choose Aerospace executive team has set an aggressive goal of enrolling 10,000 students by 2027. While the organization now has the foundational tools required, it seeks industry partners to support its efforts and scale the program to reach communities across the country.
Schools that adopt the curriculum incur an annual licensing fee of $200 per student, per year. While market research suggests most high schools can cover costs through current funding sources, Choose Aerospace has committed to covering developer license fees when cost is the sole barrier to adoption. To that end, Partner support will directly fund curriculum license fees, and help build a strong organization to facilitate and further programmatic goals. Specifically, industry donations will go directly toward--
With those goals and objectives in mind, Choose Aerospace is launching a longitudinal funding campaign targeting airlines, MROs, publishers, manufacturers, schools, and other stakeholders to support the initiative through financial contributions.
Partners are asked to “adopt a school” through a $10,000 annual donation to Choose Aerospace. The contribution will cover licensing fees for up to 25 students ($5,000), fund student scholarships ($500), and ensure the curriculum is backed by a strong, well-managed organization in pursuit of the objectives set out above.
If strategically implemented, the Choose Aerospace program will build direct pipelines of quality employees into aviation and increase the diversity of career candidates.
For more information or to support the program, contact any member of the Leadership team, reach out using the number or email below.
A primary objective for Choose Aerospace is to expand aerospace career and technical training in secondary schools and to provide multiple career paths to success within the industry. To that end, the organization—in partnership with the Aviation Technician Education Council (ATEC), Clemson University, academia, and industry—created aviation maintenance technical curriculum for deployment in high schools and community-based programs.
The curriculum aligns with the general subject areas of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Mechanic Airman Certification Standards (ACS) and puts students on a direct path to certification. Individuals that complete the approximately 500 hours of coursework may pursue airframe and powerplant mechanic (A&P) or repairman certification through work experience or by finishing the required coursework at one of the more than 180 FAA-certificated programs in the U.S.
After a two-year development period and a year-long pilot test, five hundred students are expected to enroll in the curriculum during the 2022-2023 academic year. The Choose Aerospace executive team has set an aggressive goal of enrolling 10,000 students by 2027. While the organization now has the foundational tools required, it seeks industry partners to support its efforts and scale the program to reach communities across the country.
Schools that adopt the curriculum incur an annual licensing fee of $200 per student, per year. While market research suggests most high schools can cover costs through current funding sources, Choose Aerospace has committed to covering developer license fees when cost is the sole barrier to adoption. To that end, Partner support will directly fund curriculum license fees, and help build a strong organization to facilitate and further programmatic goals. Specifically, industry donations will go directly toward--
- Securing manpower. While content development is largely funded by the Clemson University Center for Workforce Development, Choose Aerospace’s work is largely carried out by volunteer team members. The organization’s formation and administrative expenses were funded through early corporate donors and on-going operations support from ATEC. To succeed, the program needs manpower to market the curriculum, carry out programmatic objectives, and support schools that choose to adopt it. A primary goal for the first year is to build a project management structure around the curriculum, to include:
- Entering into an independent management agreement with executive leadership;
- Hiring a managing director to oversee the program;
- Obtaining marketing and branding support to give the curriculum a distinct identity and to design marketing materials, websites, and communication around the product;
- Identifying and pursuing additional funding through partners and grant opportunities;
- Managing a budget, goals, and expansions of the product; and
- Overseeing the maintenance and revisions of the product.
- Spreading the word. Choose Aerospace will create and launch a marketing campaign targeting high schools and community-based organizations, with the goal of educating 10,000 students by 2027. Elements of the marketing campaign will likely include:
- Building relationships with industry groups to leverage outreach efforts and ensure all sectors of aviation (i.e., commercial, manufacturing, MRO, business aviation, helicopters, general aviation) have the opportunity to utilize the curriculum to build technical pipelines into their respective sectors;
- Attending conferences and meetings to proselytize the curriculum;
- Engaging with community-based networks such as JobCorp, YMCA/YWCA, and Urban Leagues to develop adult-based programs; and
- Engaging with local part 147 schools to develop matriculation agreements and community aviation employers to develop direct-hire pipelines for students that elect to go right to work upon finishing the curriculum.
- Pursuing workforce diversity. The computer-based curriculum was created to increase accessibility to aviation technical training and ultimately reach underserved communities and increase diversity in the aviation technician workforce. Student demographics gathered during the pilot test suggest the program is reaching the intended target. Of the 140 students that participated in the pilot across nine schools, more than 60% of students had a non-white ethnicity (compared to 25% in the current workforce) and 12% identified as female (compared to 3% in the current workforce). Choose Aerospace will continue to identify best practices to reach a larger demographic and ultimately create a more diversified workforce.
- Creating best practice and case scenarios. By leveraging key partnerships, Choose Aerospace will create winning case studies in several target markets to serve as model pathways across the country.
- Developing an industry-backed credential. During the pilot test it was made apparent that instruction needs to culminate in a third-party credential. While leadership has and will continue to pursue the ability for graduating students to take the FAA written knowledge test, in the absence of that opportunity, Choose Aerospace will develop an industry-recognized credential based on the FAA mechanic ACS. The credential would provide expanded funding opportunities for adoptees and third-party validation to support matriculation agreements and industry hiring best practices.
- Creating pathways into A&P programs. Leveraging ATEC's network of FAA-certificated aviation maintenance schools, Choose Aerospace will educate and work with ATEC member programs to formalize matriculation agreements so that students completing the curriculum will have the opportunity to transfer credit to any A&P school across the U.S.
- Funding student scholarships. Through the Choose Aerospace scholarship program, students will have the opportunity to apply for funding to finish their A&P training.
With those goals and objectives in mind, Choose Aerospace is launching a longitudinal funding campaign targeting airlines, MROs, publishers, manufacturers, schools, and other stakeholders to support the initiative through financial contributions.
Partners are asked to “adopt a school” through a $10,000 annual donation to Choose Aerospace. The contribution will cover licensing fees for up to 25 students ($5,000), fund student scholarships ($500), and ensure the curriculum is backed by a strong, well-managed organization in pursuit of the objectives set out above.
If strategically implemented, the Choose Aerospace program will build direct pipelines of quality employees into aviation and increase the diversity of career candidates.
For more information or to support the program, contact any member of the Leadership team, reach out using the number or email below.