Fanshawe College in London, Ont., has received a $2 million donation from a local family, the largest in the College’s history, in support of skilled trades education.
Friday morning’s announcement unveiled the generous donation from the Crich family which is set to go towards creating the Don Crich Skilled Trades Accelerator.
“It’s a brokered space for the community and all the services that exist around the ministry, and around the province in the education system to build a way to find people and recruit people into the trade,” explained Stephen Patterson, dean of the Faculty of Science Trades and Technology at Fanshawe College.
“Whether you’re an industry partner, a student seeking apprenticeship, an employer, a school board, this would be that one-stop-shop,” he said. “That central point of access where we’re able to access all of the trades services that exist around the province, which sometimes can be difficult for folks to navigate and can create delays and challenges in getting good people into the workforce.”
The space is named after Don Crich, founder of Auburn Developments, TerraCorp Management, Auburn Homes and Stonerise Construction, who passed away in 2015.
“Mr. Crich was passionate about construction and was a mentor to many people who wanted to work in the trades,” college officials said in a statement. “He was eager to provide advice and he encouraged others to learn a trade and to start their own businesses.”
The idea for the skilled trades accelerator was first sparked by Crich’s daughter, Karen, who sat on the Fanshawe College Foundation Board of Directors from September 2014 to August 2020. She passed away in 2021.
“My sister, Karen, recognized it can be challenging for people who are interested in skilled trades to get started, and she saw community colleges as the link to helping people get into the field,” said Jamie Crich, president of Auburn Developments.
“The opportunity to partner with Fanshawe College to celebrate my father’s legacy while simultaneously creating a unique space to support trades education in our community is extremely important to our family,” he said.
Expected to open this spring, the Don Crich Skilled Trades Accelerator will be linked to the larger “Innovation Village” space and will be complete with a large presentation space for both industry fairs and employer recruitment events.
Additionally, it will feature smaller spaces that will be available for members of the trades community to meet with students, run smaller events, and host mentorship and project work for those enrolled in trades-focused programs at Fanshawe.
“It really is the front door to the skilled trades in southwestern Ontario,” Patterson said.
According to the College, there is a “critical demand” for skilled trades workers and the number of available jobs are expected to increase by 10 to 20 per cent over the next eight years.
With regards to Ontario’s ongoing housing crisis, Jamie said that “the main thing that causes this is the lack of skilled trades.”
“We don’t have enough people to build our housing and our infrastructure and so forth. So, it’s really important that we not only have programs like this, but many others,” he said. “We really wanted to do this (because) it was important for the industry and we thought it was fitting for our father’s legacy.”
Fanshawe currently has more than 40 programs focused on skilled trades as well as apprenticeships, with more than 5,000 students studying in apprenticeship programs each year.
Peter Devlin, president of Fanshawe College, expressed his gratitude towards the Crich family for their “generosity and commitment to skilled trades education.
“This transformational gift will help create a new model of trades delivery across Fanshawe and in the community, providing the support needed to unlock the potential of people exploring careers in the skilled trades,” he said.
In combination with Innovation Village and the new state-of-the-art welding lab opened at the College last spring, Fanshawe has invested more than $60 million to “upgrade and reimagine skilled trades educational spaces to meet the critical labour market shortages in our community.”
Jamie added that his sister and father would be “very proud” of what’s to come with the new space and hopes that it will help those aspiring to enter the trades for years to come.
–With files from Global News’ Andrew Graham.
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