Kimyahta Hairston was among the first members of a pilot Roads2Work class backed by Franklin County commissioners as part of a larger effort to help needy residents to secure good-paying jobs.
In the not-too-distant future, you might see a flash of blue hair behind the wheel of a big rig on the roads of central Ohio.
That would be Kimyahta Hairston, a California native who’s working to earn her commercial driver’s license (CDL) and start a career as a truck driver.
She’s leaning toward tanker work at the moment, taking a liking to hauling fuels and other potentially hazardous fluids. And that’s quite a change for the petite 40-year-old whose working life has focused on office and graphic design work.
“I never drove a stick ever in my life,” she said, referring to the days before she was accepted into a pilot CDL training program at Capital Transportation on the East Side and its Roads2Work nonprofit offshoot.
Hairston was among the first members of a pilot Roads2Work class backed by Franklin County commissioners as part of a larger effort to help needy residents secure good-paying jobs.
Along those lines, the county supports programs that provide training for residents wanting to enter building trades and others seeking certifications as community health workers.
Last June, the commissioners approved an initial $175,000 for CDL training, adding another $600,000 outlay in December.
Dave Evans, chief operating officer at Capital Transportation, said Roads2Work was launched by Richard Crockett, the company’s president and chief executive officer, after people continued to arrive at the Cassady Avenue training academy wanting to earn their CDLs.
“They were ready to change their life, there just wasn’t any vehicle to pay for it,” he said. “We had to turn people away.”
(Though Roads2Work started in Columbus, Evans said the hope is to expand the model throughout the country.)
The December funding from the commissioners will support another 75 students enrolling in Roads2Work training. Of the initial 20 students who were part of the program last year, 19 are now working full-time in the trucking industry and earning an average of $50,000-$60,000, Joy Bivens, director of Franklin County Job and Family Services, told the commissioners last month.
Participants must be at least 18 and live in Franklin County. Additionally, they must have household incomes below 200% of the federal poverty guideline (about $51,500 for a family of four), among other requirements.
The five-week CDL program includes classroom and behind-the-wheel instruction, plus an additional year of mentoring and coaching during graduates’ first year on the job.
Commercial trucking jobs are in demand, with an estimated million new drivers to be hired nationally in the next decade, Evans said. And while the company stops short of using the word “guaranteed,” most of the students at Capital Transportation who earn their CDLs have jobs lined up long before completing the program.
“You can be in week one of this course and you’re already prehired,” said Brandon Lewis, operations manager and CDL trainer, noting the growing number of warehouses and electronic commerce activities in central Ohio.
Hairston was earning $17,000-$18,000 doing office work. She expects to start at $50,000-plus once she passes her CDL testing. She’s already talked to a number of trucking companies.
“I’ve kind of been gearing toward tankers… the long tank trucks,” she said. “I want to try every part of the industry… I’m really looking forward to see where it leads me.”
mkovac@dispatch.com
@OhioCapitalBlog
