A Short History of Newgate:

The Newgate Education Center was implemented in the early 1970s in partnership with the University of Minnesota and incorporated as a nonprofit school in 1975. It was designed to provide vocational opportunities to low-income adults struggling to find careers and make something of their lives. Newgate’s hands-on practical approach to teaching technical skills succeeded with students who struggled in traditional educational settings.

In 1979, assisted by the Northwest Area Foundation, Newgate purchased a mechanics garage at 90 North Dale in St. Paul and established the Auto Body Training Center, primarily serving out-of-school youth from the St. Paul school system and Hmong immigrants.

In 1981 Newgate staff pioneered the concept of using the sales of donated vehicles as the funding source, thereby eliminating the dependency on tax-based government funding for support. Now all revenue to operate Newgate comes from the sale of donated vehicles, many of which are repaired by students in training.

Twelve years later, Newgate purchased its current property at 2900 East Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis.

In 1996, Newgate began the Wheels Program. Donated cars are repaired by Newgate students and provided at no cost to single working moms in need of transportation. Newgate now provides approximately 50 cars per year through the Wheels Program.

In 2004, financed by a bond from the City of Minneapolis, Newgate constructed a new modern training facility and converted part of the original building for the expanded Auto Mechanics Training Program. This training program allowed Newgate to add the Fix-it for Families program. Auto-mechanics students repair autos for low-income families who are dependent upon their vehicles to get to jobs and childcare, but cannot afford costly repairs. Newgate repairs are done for less than half the normal cost.