Van Hollen, Cardin, Ruppersberger Announce More than $120,000 in Federal Funding for Community College of Baltimore County’s Transportation Training Program
Today, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin and Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger (all D-Md.) announced $123,641 in federal funding to expand the Community College of Baltimore County’s Transportation Training Center program from 18 students to 28 students. These funds will help grow the program for more veterans and their family members, providing quality training for students who receive their Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and guaranteed job placements in transportation companies across Maryland upon completion of the program. This program helps meet the needs of the nearby Port of Baltimore and Trade Point Atlantic, strengthening our supply chain management and economy.
“Bringing job training to Maryland veterans and their families not only provides opportunity to those who have sacrificed so much for our nation but also helps grow our local workforce and keep our economy moving. Having visited the CCBC Dundalk Campus and toured their Transportation Training Center, I’ve seen first-hand the great work being done here, and I was proud to support CCBC’s request for these funds to expand their program,” said Senator Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, Urban Development, and Related Agencies. “I will keep working in the Senate to invest in workforce development and bring more job opportunities to our great state.”
“Investing in workforce development programs lays the groundwork for success for our workers, while also growing our economy. This new federal funding for CCBC’s Transportation Training Program will have a lasting impact for our veterans, major ports, and transportation industry as a whole,” said Senator Cardin, Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee. “I will continue to secure additional resources to bolster our workforce development programs to expand job opportunities across Baltimore and the rest of Maryland.”
“Supply chains are only as strong as their weakest link which, right now, is the nationwide truck driver shortage,” said Congressman Ruppersberger. “There are great-paying jobs worthy of those who honorably served our country in uniform and this grant will enable more Maryland veterans to take advantage of them. I am proud to support this common sense investment in our veterans and our economy.”
“Truck driving is number one out of the top 20 family-sustaining wage occupations,” said CCBC President Sandra Kurtinitis. “We are extremely grateful for this federal funding which allows us to expand our CDL program, bridging the gap between industry needs and the trained workers to fill them.”
Funding comes from the Department of Transportation FY21 Commercial Motor Vehicle Operator Safety Training (CMVOST) Grant Program. Established by Congress in 2005, the program expands civilian CDL training for service members to reduce the severity and number of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) accidents and provides CMV training to service members and their spouses.