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State to provide $5 million for commercial driver training [1]

['Brooklyn Draisey', 'More From Author', '- August']

Date: 2023-08-10

Community colleges working to help drivers get their commercial driver’s license will get a boost from the state with a new grant program.

Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Thursday that $5 million in infrastructure grants are being made available to community colleges for their commercial driver’s license (CDL) training programs. Qualifying programs can put funds, administered as reimbursements, toward equipment, purchasing space for training, and construction and renovation by third-party vendors.

“Here in Iowa, we need to do everything we can to help get more skilled, qualified drivers on the road – and that work has to include easing the pathway to a CDL,” Reynolds said in an Iowa Workforce Development news release. “With this unique grant program, Community Colleges will have the opportunity to upgrade facilities, find more space, or purchase newer equipment to keep their program competitive while attracting the Iowans who can help meet the demand for drivers.”

In order to receive funding from the Iowa CDL Infrastructure Grant, community colleges must have “competency-based training courses and/or a training course that would allow someone to complete training and take the licensing exam within a 30-day window,” the release states. The program must also meet baseline federal standards entry-level driver training participants need to take CDL evaluations.

Priority in grant funding will be given to community colleges that can train and certify a higher number of drivers continuously, and location will be considered for geographic diversity.

The state in late March announced the allocation of $2.94 million in grants to 46 employer CDL training programs, which serve around 1,600 people across the state.

According to Future Ready Iowa, the state will require more than 10,000 commercial drivers a year between 2020 and 2030. These funds will help community colleges and other training programs expand their offerings for students, ultimately bolstering the workforce of certified commercial drivers.

“We had a great reception with our initial CDL grant program, which is now helping Iowa employers advance their own pipeline of new drivers in the state,” said Iowa Workforce Development Executive Director Beth Townsend in the release. “Today, we’re expanding that same focus to the programs that make this valuable training possible all across Iowa.”

Iowa Workforce Development will hold a webinar on the grant program 11 a.m.-noon Aug. 24. Grant applications can be submitted at iowagrants.gov and are due by 2 p.m. Sept. 23.

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