Truck driving requires a commercial driver’s license, or CDL, which is issued by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. It takes about 160 hours of training to earn a CDL, including 40 hours in the classroom and 120 hours of hands-on training.
The Virginia Ready initiative was started in 2020 to encourage Virginia residents who had lost their jobs in the pandemic to return to school at community colleges for trade skills.
A coalition of 25 businesses across the state is providing financial backing for the nonprofit.
“The mission is to rapidly re-skill Virginians for in-demand jobs,” said Taylor Beck, manager of partnerships for Virginia Ready.
Participants in the program get $1,000 payments after completing courses and passing credential exams in the Virginia Community College System’s Fast Forward program. The program offers short-term training classes – typically six to 12 weeks – in fields such as medical and nursing assistance, phlebotomy, computer systems support, plumbing, pipefitting, welding, truck driving, and electrical power line installation and repair, among others.
“Virginia Ready originally was founded to serve those that were unemployed because of the pandemic,” Beck said. “But in June 2021, we decided to help anybody, unemployed and underemployed. So we expanded our eligibility.”
