Illustration by Tabi Walters
Three Pioneer High School moms have joined forces to fund driver’s education classes for thirty-six Pioneer students in the upcoming school year. It’s a pilot project for their new Drive Forward Foundation, which aspires to provide fully funded driver’s education for underserved students throughout Washtenaw County.
Dani Jones, who is the media director for the Ann Arbor Observer, spearheaded the initiative after learning one of her son’s friends couldn’t afford driver’s ed classes.
“Everyone agrees this is a problem,” says Jones. “When I was in high school, it was free,” she says, but the state cut funding for it in 2004. Families now pay up to $700 per student for training and testing through private driving schools.
Jones made some phone calls and learned that a push for renewed state funding had stalled and that local driving schools no longer offer scholarships. She brainstormed ideas with fellow mom Kristy Kaiser and last fall, while they chatted in the bleachers during their sons’ basketball game, Kaiser suggested they start a nonprofit. Drive Forward was incorporated in February.
Alison Petersen, another Pioneer High mom and Drive Forward organizer, previously worked as an operations manager for a local driver’s ed company. Now WCC’s director of mobility initiatives, she says the program is “shining a light” on a need in the community. “Access to transportation is important to survive and thrive,” she says.
Drive Forward went public after receiving $10,000 in anchor donations from two local nonprofits. Now organizers are seeking corporate and community partners to reach their $32,000 to $40,000 goal for the pilot program. They can be reached at [email protected].
Pioneer High principal Desmond Smith emails that he is supportive of the program. The foundation is reviewing bids from driving schools, and the successful bidder will teach the classroom portion at Pioneer.
When Michigan youths turn eighteen, they are no longer required to complete driver’s ed training prior to state testing, but Kaiser believes there’s a “community safety element” to ensuring that all teens have access to driver’s ed. “I don’t think [it] should only be available to kids lucky enough to have the financial means.”