IYRS Scores $690,000 in Grants

NEWPORT, RI—IYRS School of Technology and Trades is on the receiving end of two grants totaling $680,000 that will help the school finance the construction of a new 20,000 square foot building at its Newport campus and to help students with a passion for automotive restoration.

The school announced Wednesday in a press release that one grant, for $10,000, is from the Hagerty Education Program at America's Car Museum. The grant is the second such grant to come to IYRS and will support scholarships for students in the IYRS School of Composites Technology program.

"As we sharpen our focus on older high school and post-high school students, we continue to the enthusiastic about funding opportunities that directly impact jobs – and the path to jobs – in automotive restoration and preservation," a Hagerty elease stated. "What IYRS does is critical to moving our country’s love of old cars from hobby to heritage. We are very interested in what IYRS does and the young people who benefit from that."

The other grant is for a whopping $670,000 and it will support the school's Campaign for the Future, which includes the new building that "will allow IYRS to consolidate its programs in Newport and add additional new programs and maker spaces," the school said.

From IYRS:

The current gift will be used in support of the construction of the new building, which is estimated to cost approximately $6mm. The school plans to invest an additional $1mm in equipment, tools and facilities build-out to house up to four full-time accredited programs and laboratory space for collaborations between IYRS programs, with other schools, and with industry partners. IYRS is consolidating its two programs from Bristol, RI onto the Newport campus and plans to add a new program immediately in innovative manufacturing when the building is complete.

“There will be a lot of modern making going on in the new building, using advanced technology and materials like carbon fiber, composites and metals. Along-side our boatbuilding and restoration program that focuses on woodworking, we will have a full range of materials at IYRS – effectively becoming materials agnostic,” says Terry Nathan, President of IYRS. “We teach people to make, and at a very high level.”

Construction will begin by mid-summer. According to IYRS, the building is scheduled to be in service by fall 2017. Boston-based William Wilson Architects, owned by local architect Bill Wilson, designed the new building, and the Newport-based firm Farrar & Associates will manage the construction. Farrar performed the same function for IYRS in 2009 when the school restored it historic 1831 mill building. That facility houses the school’s library, admin offices, and commercial tenants.

Photo courtesy IYRS.