Ford, Carhartt back Detroit tool-lending site
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Ford and Carhartt volunteers worked with ToolBank USA to build benches for Clark Park. Photo: Courtesy of Ford and Carhartt
National nonprofit ToolBank USA plans to open a site in Detroit where it'll lend tools to local organizations in need of support.
Why it matters: When it opens, within the next couple of months, Detroit ToolBank aims to remove barriers to community development work by providing low-cost resources for construction and other projects.
- It's a practice familiar to those who have borrowed tools through the Carhartt Workshop.
Zoom in: Detroit ToolBank will be based in an industrial warehouse at 575 E. Milwaukee Ave. in Milwaukee Junction.
- It'll offer tools and equipment for construction, demolition, landscape, cleaning and events to nonprofits, schools, community groups and others making "lasting positive change" who become members.
- There will be a small fee: 3% of the tool's cash value, Detroit ToolBank executive director Dave Bartek tells Axios.
- The site plans to eventually provide training workshops.
State of play: The ToolBank announcement is part of a larger multiyear partnership between Ford and Carhartt introduced during the Detroit Auto Show last week, per a news release.
- The two brands financially supported ToolBank's expansion to Detroit, and Ford donated an F-150. Home Depot also provided tools, gift cards and cash.
What they're saying: "We want people to have access to tools and understand how to use them, even if they're doing it for philanthropic purposes initially," Ford Philanthropy president Mary Culler told Crain's. "It just gives people the power to understand the importance of building things and creating things for communities."
- ToolBank decided to come here permanently after working with Ford and Carhartt to build benches for Clark Park, Culler said.
- In an interview with the Free Press, Culler emphasized the importance of promoting skilled trades through the partnership with Carhartt — a "critical issue for our country" because not enough people are filling trades jobs.
The big picture: Ford CEO Jim Farley says the U.S. isn't investing enough in the backbone of America — what he calls the "essential economy," Metro Detroit-based Axios transportation reporter Joann Muller reported this fall.
- That includes construction, electrical work and other tradespeople.