JUNE 2026 | LIVE NATIONAL COHORT

JUNE 2026 | NATIONAL COHORT

Designed specifically for community college automotive and diesel faculty teams.

City College of San Francisco – Automotive Pre-Apprenticeship

women enrolled in just 2.5 months

0 → 7 

Community College of Philadelphia – Automotive & Diesel

women enrolled in 2 years 

1 → 19 

Wallace State Community College, AL – Diesel

women enrolled in 1 year

0 → 12 

Jamice Jones graduated from City College of San Francisco’s pre-apprenticeship program and became the first female automotive apprentice for the City of San Francisco.

A single parent, she went from receiving public assistance to earning $60 an hour.

Jamice first attended a Women and Auto Meet & Greet at CCSF. Three years later, she returned as a role model speaker at a Meet & Greet hosted by the College of Alameda. Jamice talked about how proud she felt when a shop she left would call her regularly to ask for help - describing the symptoms and asking her to diagnose the problem.

Remarkably, Jamice entered the program with no prior automotive experience and had never owned a car.

Evergreen Vallege College, CA – Automotive  

9  

69 → 100%  

11 %

women enrolled

female retention

increase in male retention

Oregon Central Community College – Automotive 

38 → 68%  

38 → 50%  

retention (women & men)

persistence (women & men)

What Your Team Takes Away

✓ A recruitment and retention plan customized for your automotive program

✓ Implementation coaching calls with Donna Milgram

✓ Proven outreach materials from successful automotive programs

✓ Women & Auto Meet & Greet agendas and moderator scripts so you don't recreate the wheel

✓ Recruitment and retention dashboards that help programs track enrollment, persistence, and outcomes          for reporting and improvement

✓ A school-wide leadership team that will champion your program for years to come

Recruitment System: How to Increase Female Enrollment

✓ Identify where potential female students currently discover automotive careers

✓ Host Women in Automotive Meet & Greets that convert interest into enrollment

✓ Partner with high schools and workforce partners to recruit female students

✓ Use messaging that resonates with women considering automotive careers

✓ Access proven outreach materials used by successful automotive and diesel programs

    including flyers, web pages, fact sheets, role model bios, and event agendas.

Retention System: How to Help Students Persist and Complete

✓ Identify the most common reasons female students leave automotive programs

✓ Build peer support and mentoring strategies that increase persistence

✓ Structure early program experiences that improve student confidence

✓ Address classroom dynamics that unintentionally discourage women

✓ Teach building block skills to students who come without prior automotive experience

"The WomenTech Training gave us a robust Version 2.0 Outreach Strategy. We had an entire platform and the messaging including: a Women and Automotive website, flyers featuring female role models, and a fact sheet with talking points about why automotive and apprenticeship is a good field for women. Plus, we had 3 Women in Automotive Meet & Greets with female automotive technicians.

"The WomenTech Educator’s Program galvanized Evergreen Valley College’s Automotive program. Donna’s excellent training shifted the mindset of instructors and staff to be more inclusive and open to new recruitment and retention strategies.

We launched a new marketing campaign for the auto program and saw female enrollment in our introductory course grow to nine students, the largest number of female students that we had ever enrolled at one time. Female completion increased from 69% to 100% in less than a year, and male retention rates also increased by 11%.”

The knowledgebase that IWITTS provided us on how to build an outreach strategy that targeted women helped us to tap existing resources within the college and led to our great results—from zero to 7 women in the Automotive Pre-Apprenticeship program in 2.5 months.”

~ Dr. Jonathan King, Former Dean of Business and Workforce, Evergreen Valley College, San Jose, CA

~ Monique Forster Pascual, Director of Apprenticeship & Instructional Service Agreements, Workforce Development, CCSF, CA 

"I would recommend the WomenTech Bootcamp to other Auto Programs: it was eye opening and transformative for our automotive and diesel programs. For example, we hadn’t considered the size of women’s uniforms, or how the lab experience could be improved for female students, or how to prepare women for industry shop culture – which can be rough.

"Before the WomenTech Educators Training, we had our own ideas about how to recruit more women, but they weren’t successful. The training helped us learn how to better recruit female students, so we were able to go from 2 to 7 female students in our introductory Automotive Technology courses.

The WomenTech Bootcamp was outcome focused. In less than one week we created Robust Recruitment and Retention Plans with the responsible parties and a timeline. But on our own at the College, it would have taken us multiple meetings over multiple months just to discuss our ideas, much less get names on paper and ideas into a plan template. It really accelerated the planning process. The WomenTech Bootcamp will help improve your program’s overall health."

The training also helped on the retention side because I had talking points I could use when I would sit down and talk with female students about, ‘What are you struggling with?’ If they weren’t sure about opening up, I knew what to say and that was a big help.”

~ Michael LeBlanc, Automotive Instructor, Department Chair, Cooperative Work Experience Faculty Coordinator, Principal Investigator, NSF ATE, “Accelerating Advanced Electric Vehicle Technician Education While Increasing the Recruitment and Retention of Women”, Linn-Benton Community College, Lebanon, OR

~ Lewis Nall, Former Coordinator & Instructor of Automotive & Diesel Program, Owensboro Community & Technical College, KY 

Faculty and staff teams learn recruitment and retention strategies while building their program’s recruitment and retention plan.

A short 90-minute orientation prepares your team of 6-10 and helps identify the target audience for recruitment.

Three follow-up coaching sessions help teams implement strategies and sustain progress.

Each participating college attends with a small team of 6-10 faculty and staff.

During the training:

• each school develops its own recruitment strategy

• teams complete structured planning exercises

• schools share ideas and strategies with other programs

• by the final session every team has a completed recruitment and retention plan

This format allows colleges to learn from each other while building customized plans they can implement immediately

By the end of the Bootcamp, every participating program leaves with a completed recruitment and retention plan ready for implementation.

Track Workforce Outcomes in Real Time and Prioritize Students 

Ready for Internships and Jobs

Job Placement Data Dashboard: Track Workforce Outcomes and Improve Placement

"The Job Placement Data Dashboard makes it easy to prioritize student job placement. We can instantly see which students are ready for internships or jobs and move them to the top of our placement efforts. Real-time visibility has helped us place more students before graduation."

Many community college workforce programs track only a few placement indicators. The optional Job Placement Data Dashboard helps programs track student progress across the entire career pathway—from enrollment to employment.

Examples of indicators programs can track include:

• internships and apprenticeships

• certifications and credentials

• career preparation activities (resume, LinkedIn, portfolio, interview preparation)

• job placement status within the program’s career pathway

• average wage at placement

• outcomes by gender and other student characteristics

With this type of real-time information, faculty and workforce coordinators can quickly identify which students are ready for internships or jobs and which students need additional support.

Programs can also use this structured data to make grant reporting and program improvement easier for NSF, Perkins, and state workforce initiatives.

Kevin Bradley, Work-Based Learning Coordinator, Transportation Technologies, Community College of Philadelphia, NSF ATE Project

Instead of waiting one or two years for placement data, faculty and workforce coordinators can see which students are ready for internships or jobs right now.

Optional Add-On: Job Placement Data Dashboard

Custom Dashboard: $2,500

Bootcamp Participant Price: $1,500 when bundled with the WomenTech Bootcamp

This dashboard helps your program track workforce outcomes and identify which students are ready for internships or jobs.

Save $1,000 when bundled with the WomenTech Bootcamp.

This optional dashboard can be added to the WomenTech Bootcamp to help programs track workforce outcomes after implementing their recruitment and retention strategies.

Many community colleges fund WomenTech training using existing workforce and equity initiatives.

Common funding sources include:

• Perkins V – Nontraditional Participation Funds

• Workforce Development or Strong Workforce funding

• Grant budgets (NSF, Department of Labor, or state grants)

• Equity and student success initiatives

Because the training is delivered online, it can often be funded as professional development for faculty teams working to increase enrollment and improve student success.

The June training schedule also allows colleges to use remaining funds before the June 30 fiscal year deadline.

We can provide sample language describing the training for grant proposals or internal funding requests upon request.

IS THIS BOOTCAMP A GOOD FIT FOR YOUR AUTOMOTIVE PROGRAM?

Increase female enrollment while strengthening overall recruitment and growing total program enrollment

Meet Perkins V nontraditional participation goals for automotive programs

Supports Perkins-funded CTE initiatives and recruitment strategies

Build a high school recruitment pipeline that includes female students

Improve retention and persistence of female automotive students

Develop a clear recruitment plan for a new program i.e., alternative fuels

This training works especially well for:

Community college automotive technology programs

NSF-funded programs (ATE, Innovation in Two-Year Colleges STEM Ed)

Automotive programs that want a reliable system for recruitment and retention

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Most colleges try to solve recruitment challenges through individual meetings over many months.

The WomenTech Bootcamp accelerates that process by bringing the full team together to build a plan in just a few sessions. Teams from several colleges participate in the training, but each college works on its own recruitment plan.

Automotive instructors

Workforce or apprenticeship staff

Career education deans

Outreach coordinators or marketing staff

Department chair or Program director

High school or workforce partners (i.e., employment programs) or industry advisors

Counselors, Career Advisors, or student support staff

Female Student

June 2026 Cohort, WomenTech Educators Automotive Online Bootcamp  

Ready to Build Your Automotive Recruitment and Retention Plan?

Join other automotive and diesel programs in this live WomenTech Bootcamp.

Recruitment Dates: June 1 & 2, 2026

Ideal for programs using remaining Perkins or CTE funds before June 30.

Retention Dates: June 3 & 4, 2026

Times: 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM PT (4:00 PM - 8:00 PM ET)  

Limited to four automotive programs to allow individualized coaching. One school has already secured its spot. 

Registration & Pricing:

Recruitment strategies

Retention strategies

Plan built during training

Outreach materials

Coaching Sessions (4)

Team of 6 - 10 faculty & staff

Includes Job Placement Dashboard (normally $2,500)

Recruitment strategies

Retention strategies

Plan built during training

Outreach materials

Coaching Sessions (4)

Team of 6 - 10 faculty & staff

Customized dashboard for your program

Built in Google Sheets

Real-time data

Improve job placement outcomes for ALL students

Customized to any career pathway

Download Print Order Form

Download Print Order Form

Download Print Order Form

By the end of the Bootcamp, every participating program leaves with a completed recruitment and retention plan developed with guidance from Donna Milgram.

Contact us to ensure there is still space - training at iwitts.org 

Payment Terms & Cancellation Policy

*Late Registration Fee of $500 after May 11, 2026

Customized to career pathway and school

Customized to grant goals & timeline

Facilitation and write-up of recruitment & retention Plans

Full assessment prior to training

10 Coaching sessions, unlimited email

Everything in Auto Bootcamp

Team of 10 - 40 participants, up to 4 Career Pathways

Onsite Option

I've dedicated my career to helping schools significantly increase STEM and CTE enrollment and retention.

As the Principal Investigator of 5 National Science Foundation grants, I've worked intensively with schools—boots on the ground—to develop the strategies and systems that help STEM educators increase enrollment by 100% or more.

My NSF-funded CalWomenTech Project was highlighted by the National Science Foundation for demonstrating significant achievement and program effectiveness and chosen as 1 of 3 model projects by the American Association of University Women (AAUW).

After 30+ years of service in the field, I've "cracked the code" for increasing enrollment and retention in STEM and CTE programs and developed a 10 point system for recruitment and a 12 point system for retention that provides significant, measurable results in about one year—not just the hope of eventual change 5-10 years down the road that nobody can measure.

I've developed Recruitment and Retention Plan templates based on my 20 point system that requires you to use the plan elements which have resulted in success for so many of our past Training participants.  

I love being able to make such a big impact on STEM classrooms around the country, and in turn on the lives of students who have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Donna Milgram speaks at U.S. Department of Education’s “Moving STEM Forward in Career, Technical, and Adult

Education” Symposium.

Not Sure Which Training Option Is the Best Fit or Who Should Be on Your Team?

Schedule a quick 15-minute call with Donna to discuss your program's goals and determine which training option will work best for your institution and/or who should be on your WomenTech Automotive Leadership Team or email her @ training at iwitts.org