Automotive Trades Foundation (ATF), also known as The Montgomery County Students Automotive Trades Foundation, Inc., is a non-profit foundation established cooperatively by Montgomery County Public Schools and the business community in Montgomery County to promote and advance the interests of automotive education through the establishment of a student-run licensed used car dealership. This unique method of training high school students for skilled positions in the automotive field offers hands-on instruction to students interested in an automotive career. Students are introduced to potential employers with available automotive positions in technical service, customer service, sales and management.

Students receive valuable on-the-job training that prepares them for higher educational opportunities or direct entry into the automotive job market.

The ATF program also offers students the opportunity to earn advanced placement credit toward post-secondary education. During the school year, final-year ATF students are placed in local automobile dealerships for two full days of one-on-one training with experts in the automotive industry to enhance their knowledge of the real world and to establish employment contacts.

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• Automotive Trades Foundation has been helping students in Montgomery County Public Schools achieve their professional goals for more than 25 years. ATF students have reconditioned and sold more than 1,000 vehicles since the program began operating in 1978. Each year, ATF provides more than $6,000 in scholarships and awards to the outstanding students participating in the program. Students use these awards to further their education or to purchase items related to their automotive employment. In addition, ATF annually donates a vehicle to a charitable organization in Montgomery County.
• The Montgomery County Board of Education presented ATF with the Distinguished Service to Public Education Award in recognition of ATF’s exemplary contributions to public education in Montgomery County.
• ATF was featured in a nationally-distributed video, produced by Ivanhoe Communications, entitled “Top of the Class” — Answers for American Education.
• The U.S. Department of Labor recognized the ATF program as one of four outstanding educational programs in the United States that demonstrates the partnership of education and industry.
• The ATF facility located at The Thomas Edison High School of Technology is designated as a Certified Automobile Technician Training Facility by the National Automobile Technicians Education Foundation.
• The Motor Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association/American Vocational Association presented its Award for Excellence in Automotive Service to the ATF program.

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