A grant recently awarded to Central Georgia Technical College from the U.S. Department of Transportation‘s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, through its Commercial Motor Vehicle Operator Safety Training Grant program, will soon help local veterans fill a much-needed void in the country’s economy, tuition-free.

$111,247 in funding will become scholarships to veterans at the Georgia Veterans Education Career Transition Resource Center, which under the operation of CGTC, offers educational coaching, career counseling, and community resource assistance, resume assistance and workforce training in partnership with Georgia’s academic institutions.

The CMVOST Grant program’s goals are to expand the number of Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) operators, reduce severity and number of crashes and assist veterans and their families in obtaining a Commercial Truck Driver’s License. The CTDL program at the VECTR Center is an accelerated, eight-week program, designed to meet the needs of a critical sector of the economy, quickly.

In May of this year, the Washington Post reported America has a shortage of 51,000 truck drivers, a number the trucking industry fears will keep rising.

This grant provides as much access to the open road for veterans at VECTR, as it does a wide-open career path.

“This scholarship will allow transitioning military and veterans to attend the commercial truck driving program at VECTR completely free over the next year, allowing these highly skilled and motivated men and women to help fill critical needs in our logistical infrastructure,” said the VECTR Center’s chief operating officer, Ret. Col. Patricia Ross. “It will provide our veterans good-paying jobs, ones out from behind a cubicle, as either long-haul truckers, or day-drivers, while helping meet shortages both in Georgia and throughout the nation.”

The mission of the U.S. Department of Transportation is to ensure our nation has the safest, most efficient and modern transportation system in the world that improves the quality of life for all American people and communities, from rural to urban, and increases the productivity and competitiveness of American workers and businesses.