page_title: Focus: HOPE
section_title: Machinist Training Institute (MTI)
hierarchical_section_title: Focus: HOPE / Education and Training Programs / Machinist Training Institute (MTI)
caption_attribution_description: English: Focus HOPE Machinist Training Institute Self Taken Rayswizzy (talk) 02:26, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
context_page_description: Focus: HOPE is a Detroit-based, non-denominational, non-profit organization whose aim is to overcome racism and poverty by providing education and training for underrepresented minorities and others. The organization is a public foundation under section 501 of the Internal Revenue code.
context_section_description: The Machinist Training Institute (MTI) was established in 1981 and is located at 1200 Oakman Boulevard, the site of a former Ex-Cell-O plant that was used for automotive and farm implement production.  As the Ex-Cell-O company was ceasing production at the Oakman Blvd. plant and preparing to permanently close it, Focus: HOPE leadership approached the plant's management in hopes of obtaining additional parking space for the neighboring food distribution center.  While touring the facility Father Cunningham observed that the machinists employed there were mainly older, white men.  Focus: HOPE immediately conducted a study and found that almost no minorities or women were employed as machinists and, moreover, American manufacturers, as a whole, suffered a shortage of 200,000 skilled machinists with the average journeyman's age being 58.  No training facility for machinist had existed in the region since the Henry Ford Trade School closed decades earlier and shop owners had been reluctant to train new apprentices for fear that they may leave for higher wages.  With these facts, Father Cunningham convinced the U.S. Department of Defense that the nationwide shortage of skilled machinists represented a national security concern, arguing that in the event of a war, the armed forces would be faced with a shortage of replacement parts.  Focus: HOPE bought the 300,000-square-foot (28,000 m²) Ex-Cell-O plant for a nominal price and obtained a federal grant along with a number of corporate donations for equipment and building refurbishment.  With the help of Sen. Carl Levin, Focus: HOPE obtained a loan from the U.S. Department of Defense of $3 million worth of machine tool equipment that had been in storage.
  Focus: HOPE began screening the first applicants to the Machinist Training Institute in July, 1981.  Instruction began in November that same year after the first class of 60 students was accepted from a pool of 4000 applicants.  Student tuition was funded through the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA).  Beginning in 1982, tuition funding was also provided through the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA).  MTI graduated its first class of machinists on August 24, 1982.  Shortly thereafter, Focus: HOPE entered into an agreement with General Motors to accept production contracts, allowing Focus: HOPE to employ some of its own MTI graduates, as well as give real-production experience to its trainees.  The Machinist Training Institute gained accreditation through from the Council for Noncollegiate Continuing Education in 1986.  That same year, CNC training was added to the MTI curriculum.  By the end of the decade, Focus: HOPE had graduated roughly 800 students from The Machinist Training Institute with a job-placement average of 95%.  In 1994, through the assistance of Sen. Levin, an avid supporter of Focus: HOPE's training programs, the Institute received a donation of 16 new lathes and had achieved 100% job placement of MTI graduates.
  The MTI program is modeled after a similar program in St. Louis, a program that had a job-placement rate of 90% [26].  Students are taught shop-theory, math, blueprint reading, and quality inspection and receive more than 600 hours of hands-on machine tool setup and operation training.  Training takes place eight hours per day, five days per week.  The training program is divided into three tiers:
  
  1. A 5-week "vestibule" program - focuses on communication and technical skills
  
  2. A 26-week basic machining program
  
  3. A 26-week advanced machining program (select participants only) – prepares students for the Center for Advanced Technologies (CAT) engineering programs
  
  The requirements for entry into the Machinist Training Institute are a high school diploma or GED with ninth grade reading and tenth grade mathematics skill levels.  MTI is a member of the Michigan Job Training Coordinating Council and the Michigan association of Vocation Private Schools (MSVP).
  The Machinist Training Institute represents a bold new direction in the mission of Focus: HOPE, a direction in which the founders t
caption: Focus: HOPE, Machinist Training Institute
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