The Newgate School: Where Donated Cars Make New Lives

A Mission of Stability, Confidence, and Community

Newgate is a non-profit automotive school that is fully funded through vehicle donations. Our mission is to help young adults achieve financial independence by training for a career in automotive repair. Our students complete a 12- to 18-month training and certification program where they are instructed by highly skilled automotive technicians. They receive their training at no charge, but students “pay it forward” by providing refurbished vehicles to single working mothers. Newgate students graduate from our programs ready to begin stable, well-paying careers with confidence.

Over Fifty Years of Tuition-Free Training

For over fifty years, our tuition-free vocational training has served people from local immigrant communities, disadvantaged families, and young adults who had previously left school. Newgate’s story begins in the 1960s when we provided training in partnership with the University of Minnesota. Newgate separated from the University in the 1970s, becoming a non-profit technical school in 1975. Through the sale of donated vehicles, the school was able to fully fund its activities, enabling it to operate without relying on tax-based government funding. Over the past four decades, our training programs have continued to grow, leading to the construction of a modern training facility in 2004. This state-of-the-art facility allows us to expand the capacity of our educational programs and provide even more value to the community through the “Wheels for Women” program.

Check out this video to learn more!