Lehigh Carbon Community College in Schnecksville, Pa., got a boost in funding through a federal, two-year $193,677 grant to train commercial truck drivers as the U.S. faces a shortage in truck drivers.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg discussed the shortage Aug. 9 while visiting LCCC, Times News reported. He noted there is an estimated shortage of 80,000 truck drivers, with more leaving the industry each year.
“Truck drivers are finally well-understood to be the essential workers they have always been in our supply chains and our economy,” Buttigieg said, according to Times News.
The funds will come from the Commercial Motor Vehicle Operator Safety Training Grant and will help veterans, their spouses and underserved groups to get the cost of their CDL training covered, Times News reported.
Buttigieg said the Biden administration hopes to recruit some of the quarter-million veterans yearly to help close the driver-shortage gap, according to Times News.
“We owe it to them that when they come home, they can get the training they need to get good-paying civilian jobs,” Buttigieg said in the Times News report.
U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., joined Buttigiegin visiting LCCC’s commercial driver’s license training program and talked with students during the visit, emphasizing the importance of the training program, according to Times News.
“Programs like this are essential to ensuring that we serve those who have served us,” Wild said, according to Times News. She said it is important to support the veterans transitioning back to civilian life.
Times News reported veterans make up 1/6 of the 120 new truck drivers trained each year at LCCC. This increases how many students can be trained in each four-week session. In the past, the college has received grants to help veterans get their CDL. The rising cost of CDL training is helped with the new funding, which has been driven by the cost of diesel fuel.
Mike Glanz, director of CC Training which contracts with LCCC to train students from Lehigh, Carbon and Tamaqua, said, “Once you’ve got that license, you’ve got the ability to go to work,” the Times News reported.
Matthew Marcano, a military veteran, told the Times News the grant helped him find a way to use skills he learned in the Navy, adding, “I have a new opportunity and chance to provide for my family.”
Russell Lande, a Coast Guard veteran and driver for FedEx, told the Times News he was proud to transport baby formula to the Lehigh Valley during a recent shortage. He said the grant program helped him take a chance on becoming a truck driver.
“That grant is not just about the veterans, it affects so many others,” Lande said, according to Times News.
