The Ford Motor Company Fund partnered with GHSA to provide $50,000 in funding in 2024 to bolster access to driver education for Tribal youth in Montana.
In 2024, the Ford Motor Company Fund partnered with GHSA to provide a grant of $50,000 to help increase mobility in underserved and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities by developing, implementing and evaluating teen-centric safe mobility programs. The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT), in collaboration with Montana’s Office of Public Instruction, used the funding to bolster access to driver education for Tribal youth. To address the shortage of driver education instructors in Tribal communities, MDT awarded five scholarships of $5,000 each to enable five teachers to obtain the training needed to become certified driver education instructors. This will also help ensure the program's long-term viability. Grant funds were also used to provide hands-on driver training workshops to Native American teens, who do not have access to formal instruction.
MDT worked with the local Safe On All Roads (SOAR) Coordinators, who are tasked with conducting outreach and education to help reduce fatalities on Montana reservations, to recruit Tribal youth to attend a series of one-day trainings. They were led by five certified driver education instructors affiliated with the Northern Cheyenne, Fort Belknap, Confederated Salish and Kootenai, and Cut Bank tribal communities.
Working with local SOAR coordinators, MDT recruited five teachers working in the Confederated Salish and Kootenai, Fort Belknap, and Northern Cheyenne communities to become certified driver education instructors. These efforts to improve driver education in Tribal communities can play a role in helping to prevent crashes and reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries in the state’s Tribal communities.
With MDT’s commitment to include hands-on driver training workshops for Native American teens and other at-risk youth along with scholarships for training driver education instructors in their Highway Safety Plan, these initiatives will continue and be expanded to reach more youth statewide.
