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June 26, 2007Program Helps Low-Income or Unemployed Residents Become Bus or Truck Drivers |
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UNTIL recently, Sandra Castillo, 37, a laid-off factory worker, had never driven anything larger than a car. But now she was at the wheel of a 30-foot-long school bus. At her side, with a dual brake if needed, sat Christopher Kaminski, an instructor in a program that was training her to seek a new vocation as a bus driver. Three other trainees riding in passenger seats on this early June morning would later have their turns at the wheel. Castillo said, she will seek a job with a school bus company, and later with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the public buses in New York City. She and the other trainees were enrolled in Red Hook on the Road, a program that helps low-income or unemployed New York City residents become bus or truck drivers. The program began in 1995 to train residents of the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, and was later expanded to residents of the entire city, said Tracy Anderson, director of program development at Brooklyn Workforce Innovations. The program aims to place graduates who pass the test with companies that operate trucks, school buses, private coaches, charter buses, airport shuttle buses and transit vans for the disabled.
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