Annette Sykora said providing assistance is an auto industry hallmark.
Sykora, who is chair of the NADA Foundation and dealer principal of Smith South Plains Ford Lincoln in Levelland, Texas, was discussing a recent $25,000 donation from global lifestyle and housing services provider Assurant to the National Automobile Dealers Association Foundation’s Emergency Relief Fund.
“The Emergency Relief Fund helps us support our own, but we cannot do so without the support of dealers and our industry partners,” Sykora said in a news release.
Assurant provides services that support, protect and connect major consumer purchases such as automobiles, and to support the Emergency Relief Fund’s mission, the company presented a check last week at the first-ever virtual NADA Show.
The Emergency Relief Fund began in 1992, offering financial help for auto and truck dealership employees who have been impacted by natural disasters.
That help was needed last year. The fund distributed more than $430,000 to 433 dealership families affected by Hurricanes Laura and Sally in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Texas, and wildfires in Oregon and the powerful derecho in Iowa.
“Assurant is proud to support the NADA Foundation’s Emergency Relief Fund that provides financial assistance to dealership employees affected by natural disasters,” said Assurant global automotive president John Laudenslager.
Laudenslager also said, “The Assurant Foundation strengthens communities by supporting charitable partners that help protect where people live and can thrive, connect with local resources, inspire inclusion, and prepare leaders of the future.”
More details about the NADA Foundation’s Emergency Relief Fund are available.
“We are so thankful for Assurant’s generous donation that will help dealership families in times of great need,” Sykora said.
Continuing efforts to help build a strong pipeline of minority talent for the automotive industry, CDK Global and the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, or NAMAD, have opened the application process for an annual scholarship program.
The program is called the Fueling Careers Scholarship Program, and it is the fifth year of the program.
The Fueling Careers Scholarship Program, established in 2017, is also part of a three-year pledge that includes $150,000 in scholarship funding.
CDK and NAMAD say they recognize the important role inclusion and diversity plays in inspiring meaningful connections with CDK customers and their surrounding communities. Because of that, for the first time in the program’s history, scholarship recipients will also receive offers to join the CDK Global Summer Internship Program.
The Fueling Careers Scholarship Program was established with CDK funding to support ethnic minority high school children of dealership employees who show financial need in pursuing a college education.
The program will award up to five $10,000 scholarships per year to high school seniors entering an accredited college or university.
Students should find their passion and learn skills that will help them serve the auto industry and their communities in the future, said Kathy Gilbert, CDK Global senior director, minority dealer and women retail.
“Through this scholarship program, we continue to invest in tomorrow’s minority leaders by providing them an avenue to receive needed funding toward their education and an opportunity to get real-world work experience with a summer internship,” Gilbert said in a news release.
Education is important for communities, NAMAD president Damon Lester said, adding that for students, the Fueling Careers Scholarship Program will give them support and access to further their learning experience, NAMAD president Damon Lester said.
“NAMAD and CDK Global have a shared commitment to developing future generations of leaders across our minority dealers,” Lester said.
International Scholarship and Tuition Services Inc. manages the scholarship application and award process. Dealership employees of a NAMAD member with high school students should complete an online application and satisfy all eligibility requirements. Candidates can submit applications through May 6.
Scholarship recipients will be announced in November at the NAMAD Annual Meeting. Internship offers will then be given to eligible candidates for the 2022 CDK Global Summer Internship Program.
Application process details are available.
