The Gene Haas Foundation was established in 1999 by the Founder and CEO of Haas Automation Inc., Gene Haas, to support the needs of the local community through grants to such local charities as the Boys and Girls Clubs, Food Share, Rescue Mission, and others.
Seeing a growing need for skilled manufacturing employees industry wide, the Foundation expanded its mission to include support for manufacturing training programs throughout North America and beyond. By providing scholarship grants, sponsoring individual and team CNC competitions, and partnering with the very best CNC training programs in the world, the Foundation helps expand the availability of high-quality manufacturing technology training worldwide.
The Gene Haas Foundation donates millions of dollars every year to manufacturing education and the community. In 2020, the Gene Haas Foundation provided more than $17 million in grants, bringing the total since inception to more than to $100 million.
The Gene Haas Foundation recognizes that the future of manufacturing in North America – and around the world – depends directly upon the availability of skilled workers. Expanding the pool of skilled workers hinges on recruiting more young people to pursue careers in manufacturing and creating state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing training programs to ensure that graduating students have the skills necessary when they enter the workforce.
One of the primary goals of the Gene Haas Foundation is to provide financial assistance to students interested in manufacturing-based careers. Scholarship programs are available through career centers, technical schools, community colleges, and universities. Foundation funding goes directly to those training programs to attract prospective students.
Skills/Compétences Canada has been a proud partner of the Gene Haas Foundation, Haas Automation and Thomas Skinner & Son (in Vancouver, British Columbia) for many years. Through their support we have been able to host top of the line competitions in both CNC Machining and Precision Machining, have expert technical assistance onsite during competitions, and award cash prizes to gold, silver and bronze medalists in nine machining competition categories.
Watch our social media channels during the month of December for testimonials from the medalists of the 2021 Skills Canada Virtual National Competition. We look forward to seeing you in Vancouver, British Columbia as we return to our in-person events at the 2022 Skills Canada National Competition.
