| Name | Dr. Erica |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Bass-Flimmons |
| Home Address | 2270 Edgmon Forest Ln Chattanooga, Tennessee 37421 United States |
| Organization Name | SHE Trucking Foundation Inc. |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | The Vice President of the SHE Trucking Foundation serves as a senior leader of the Foundation, The Vice President has strategic and operational responsibility for all program areas. The position is part of the Foundation’s leadership team that drives the organization’s overall strategy and operations. Principle Duties: LEADERSHIP Works closely with the Board's strategy and mission. -Embodies the core competencies and values of the Foundation at all times and positively promotes the Foundation’s culture -Displays ethical bearing and decision making at all times and is held up as an example of what the Foundation stands for -Proactively leads his/her team by providing direction, goals, and communication on key issues that will empower them to gain results -Responsible for engagement and morale of his/her team, and ensures that strong positive relationships are developed with other departments and other stakeholders STRATEGY -Develops and leads the program strategy to advance the Foundation’s mission; and oversees and implements plans in close cooperation with the Executive Board -Critical in identifying, framing and executing the key programmatic goals and objectives of the Foundation's at a national level -Establishes and maintains high-level contacts with a wide variety of industry and non-industry individuals and groups who are in a position to compel/promote She Trucking story, mission and goals |
| Organization Address | 3505 Brainerd Road Suite 4 Chattanooga, Tennessee 37411 United States |
| Website | https://www.shetrucking.com/ |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 423-255-8333 |
| Alternate Phone Number | 404-510-3188 |
| Email Address | shetrucking.expo@gmail.com |
| Alternate Email Address | drericabassflimmons@gmail.com |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | S.H.E. Trucking Foundation, is pleased to submit this proposal for support for our S.H.E Workforce Development & Employment Program along with our SHE Trucking Education Program. S.H.E. Trucking Foundation plans to serve a minimum of 5000 men and women and indirectly impact through information, education and awareness. S.H.E. Trucking Foundation service delivery areas will include Chattanooga and its immediate metro and urban areas. S.H.E. Trucking, LLC is a Registered Apprenticeship Program for commercial truck drivers. We partner with the Department of Labor and are an Industry Intermediary for Transportation, Distribution and Logistics. Through our partnership with FASTPORT we support motor carriers that are looking to begin training apprentices immediately for high-demand jobs in trucking. Goals • Increase women’s participation in transportation occupations by enrolling no fewer than 75 women into the S.H.E. Trucking Workforce Development & Employment Program and another 225 men, veterans and youth in CDL Training Certification and Job Placement. • Attain 85% successful course completion rate among all participants (255) • Place 95% of graduates (285) into training-related employment, entry level employment or Apprenticeship Readiness to prepare for entrance into a Registered Apprenticeship Program. • Offer Supportive services to 100% of participants to aid in overcoming barriers such as access to housing, food, transportation, work-related clothing and tools, industry recognized certifications, etc. as needed to promote retention throughout course completion and entrance into employment. • Collaborate with new and existing partners to provide participants, both men and women, with workshops, presentations, and focus groups that will combat gender stereotypes and increase understanding of how they are replicated so they can be addressed while interactively brainstorming solutions that will bring about systemic change. Training & Career Options (Certifications Included for All): Job placement included with all programs ● CDL Permit Program ● CDL Driver Program:Class A & B ● Commercial Driver – CDL Training & Career Placement Enter Apprenticeship Program Phase 1 Outreach & Recruitment Phase 2 CDL Training and Mentorship 1 Phase 3 Hands on Training: Lab (Yard & Road Training) and Mentorship 2 Phase 4 Employment and Mentorship 3 |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | The trucking business is the backbone of the American economy, accounting for roughly 70% of all freight tonnage transported in the country. Over 3 million truck drivers are required to carry 9.2 billion tons of freight each year. According to the American Trucking Association (ATA), 48,000 drivers are needed presently, with a projected increase to 200,000 by 2022. The trucking sector is experiencing a driver shortage. Despite a national unemployment rate of 4.7 percent, the trucking sector is having difficulty finding competent drivers. The present driver shortage of around 48,000 people is attributable to a variety of factors. First, many drivers are nearing retirement age, and during the next ten years, more than one-third of the existing workforce will retire. Second, new rules, such as the Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) program, have driven many drivers out of the sector. Third, additional hours of service requirements result in productivity losses, implying that more drivers are required. Finally, a growth in shipment necessitates the hiring of more drivers to satisfy the rising demand. The majority of trucking firms are always hiring. It is a year-round activity, particularly for larger companies. Driving a Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) requires a greater degree of knowledge, experience, skills, and physical attributes than driving a non-commercial vehicle. SHE Trucking Driving School can provide the necessary training to assure an adequate pool of competent drivers in Tennessee and bordering states. According to the ATA, while fleets are getting applications for available positions, many of the candidates are unqualified. SHE Trucking Driving School is actively seeking accreditation from the State of Tennessee and plans to be in accordance with the State requirements to create a program recognized by the trucking business. Carriers around the country are suffering a scarcity of skilled drivers, making professional training from a certified school the natural first step in bridging the gap in this expanding business. Skilled and professional drivers are in high demand and may anticipate competitive pay and benefits. Phase 1 - Education, Outreach & Recruitment Marketing & Promotions, collaborate with partners, workshops & seminars, Register participants Phase 2 – Didactic Training: CDL Training/Classes begin. Virtual and In-person; Workforce Skills Training, Virtual and In-person. Phase 3 – Hands on Training: Lab (Yard & Road Training) Phase 4 – Employment: Company exploration, company seminars, application processing & pre-hire letters. Ongoing for all students (Students received hire letters within first two weeks of enrollment) Workforce Skill Reinforcement Training Overview The survival skills that are core to this training program goes beyond what is often termed “soft skills” which assesses the “people skills” that workers possess and how those skills relate to their beliefs and attitudes about work. But workers often bring issues and challenges into the workplace that have been acquired from family dynamics, life experiences, previous educational settings and racial and cultural socialization that have formed their beliefs about their place in society. These factors have established their worldview and are evident in how they relate to others on the job and with everyone they meet. This training program acknowledges that every worker enters into a new educational experience, job training program or new job with a certain level of talent or natural abilities, skill sets and a knowledge base that makes up their particular knapsack of tools they have operated from in life. With some trainees, workforce survival training means assisting them in being able to heighten their known abilities, skill sets and knowledge base. The training helps them to enhance those known abilities in a way that will help them achieve their life and career goals. For other workers, workforce survival training is needed in order to help them discover their natural abilities, skill sets and knowledge base. Too often, workers enter job training just wanting and needing a job without the insight of what they bring to the workforce. This group possess underdeveloped and even hidden abilities, and unrecognized skills, that can help them grow and achieve in their life and career. What makes this training program unique is that the program is grounded in theoretical frameworks and concepts that take into account the social, cultural and economic realities that recruits enter into a training program, and assist trainers and employers in understanding how these new recruits learn, process new information during training and overcome stressors that previously hindered either their short-term or long-term possibilities of success. The concepts that the Workforce Survival Reinforcement Training Program incorporates into the sessions and modules are: 1) strength perspective, 2) empowerment and 3) trauma-informed care and resilience. The strengths perspective comes out of the field of social work. It highlights the inherent strengths and resources that exist, although usually unacknowledged or unknown by the individual, at the center of assisting their transformational process rather than focusing on the person’s problems or pathologies. Each session of the Workforce Survival Enforcement Program seeks to assist students learning the profession of trucking to recognize their inner-strengths and abilities to overcome the stressors, pressures and hardships they will encounter on the job and one the road. Also, how to form the ability to reach out and seek assistance and to recognize this as a strength as oppose to thinking of needing help as a sign of weakness. The empowerment perspective assists individuals or groups to gain control of their life circumstances, achieve their own goals and to work towards helping them enhance the quality of their lives. It is the belief of the Workforce Survival Reinforcement Program that teaching soft skills is important in helping workers understand those characteristics expected in the work place, but workforce survival recognizes that workers bring thoughts and beliefs formed long before they began working, or that workers may be living out adverse experiences that will hinder their ability to become fully engaged at work and to stay on the job. Lastly, trauma and resilience are incorporated into how the program works with and approaches workers who enter training programs with varies individual, family and social challenges that sometimes derails their efforts to move forward in their lives, despite their earnest desire to finish training, become gainfully employed and self-sufficient. The program being trauma-informed recognizes the lived experiences of people who are coming into truck driver training from communities and families that have experienced trauma. Trauma is an experience or event by a person that is emotionally painful or distressful which can result in lasting mental and physical effects. This training program is trauma informed because it assumes that an individual may be experiencing some form of trauma, or likely to have experienced some trauma in their life, such as being a witness of survival of domestic violence, substance abuse, family and/or community violence, emotional abuse or maltreatment, financial trauma or traumatic grief. Assisting a new training recruit who has been a witness or survivor of any one or more forms of trauma is critical in helping them become not only stable individuals, but also importantly, stable workers. Workforce Skill Reinforcement Training Benefits for Trucking Companies By engaging new workers into the Workforce Survival Enforcement Training Program will benefit employers by assisting them in retention of new truckers. It is costly, both to new trucking students and/or the companies that pay for the cost of school, between $8,000-$10,000, to start their career. In order to retain drivers over time, so companies will also provide longevity bonuses to drivers if the worker stays on the job for at least 5 years. This training will help trucking companies gain a better understanding of the social, cultural and economic challenges from which their workers come, and how difficult it is for these workers, particularly once off the road, to maintain their focus on work and career. The skill reinforcement presented in this program will assist employers in recognizing how to best help them know what skills and abilities these workers need guidance in nurturing to become reliable long- term employees and professionals. This heightened awareness will also benefit employers in that they will see the value of each of their drivers, identify ways they can promote them in their careers and most importantly help to retain them as workers. |
| Where would your project take place? | Chattanooga, TN |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 110000 |
| Do you have any matching funding sources from other local governments, private entities, non-profits, or philanthropic entities for your project? | Yes |
| Please describe the source and list amounts of any other funding. | Urban League of Chattanooga 3,000 Department of Labor 50,000 |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | Educational Training and Support Workshops: $50,000 |
| If funded, when would your project start? | June 1, 2022 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | 12 months |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | • Attain 85% successful course completion rate among all participants (255) • Place 95% of graduates (285) into training-related employment, entry level employment or Apprenticeship Readiness to prepare for entrance into a Registered Apprenticeship Program. • Offer Supportive services to 100% of participants to aid in overcoming barriers such as access to housing, food, transportation, work-related clothing and tools, industry recognized certifications, etc. as needed to promote retention throughout course completion and entrance into employment. • Collaborate with 50 new and existing partners in Chattanooga, TN to provide participants, both men and women, with workshops, presentations, and focus groups that will combat gender stereotypes and increase understanding of how they are replicated so they can be addressed while interactively brainstorming solutions that will bring about systemic change. |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | SHE Trucking Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization with a Board of 3 members and 1 executive board member. To ensure accountability and transparency, our charitable organization must follow all applicable federal rules and regulations, as well as state and municipal laws and regulations where it is based or operates. If the organization runs programs outside of the US, it must follow all applicable international laws, rules, and conventions that are legally binding on the US. (2) Our nonprofit organization should has formalized, written code of ethics that all of its directors, trustees, staff, and volunteers follow. (3) Our organization has implemented policies and processes to guarantee that all conflicts of interest, or the appearance of conflicts, within the organization and the board of directors are properly managed through disclosure. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | Local communities face considerable opportunities as well as challenges as a result of our S.H.E Workforce Development & Employment The program connects with local high schools to help communities become educated while encouraging individuals to pursue avenues in the transportation industry. This year we will be connected with Red Bank High School along with Girls Summit of Chattanooga to establish our pipeline. In addition, the program encourages entrepreneurship, innovation, and job creation. |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | We plan to attract community buy-in by continue to expand our partnership with Thrive Regional Partnership non-profit organization. This partnership allows us to expand our program to generate interest with corporate partners. In addition we plan to facilitate seminars within local communities at churches, community centers and partner with The Boys and Girls Club. |
| Name | Sharae Moore |
| Contact Information | shetrucking.expo@gmail.com |
| Name | Jerri Banks |
| Contact Information | mrsjerri@lotrecruiting.com |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? | Thank you for this opportunity to submit our program proposal |