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State Farm grant to provide driver’s training, exams at OSU-OKC

OKLAHOMA CITY – A generous grant from State Farm will allow a pilot program to provide free driver’s education training and licensing exams to youth in foster care to continue.

 

A $20,000 grant from State Farm Insurance Co. supports the continuation of the college’s Staying Alive Defensive Driving Program for Teens and Young Adults and the Road to Independence Program, which provides free drivers education training and licensing exams to low-income teens and young adults, with the focus being on foster youth and former foster youth. 

 

Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City launched the Road to Independence program in 2020 with initial funding provided by State Farm.  The program targets drivers ages 15½ to 20 currently or formerly in foster care.

 

“A lot of foster kids haven’t had an opportunity to take driver’s education,” said Bill Hughes, director of the Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City’s Precision Driving Training Center. “Without that opportunity, they can’t get to work. They can’t even go apply for a job.”

 

A driver’s license will pave the way for low-income youth to successfully commute to school or work, helping move them toward self-sufficiency and stability.  

 

Driver’s education once was taught in most high schools, but no longer. The only alternative for most students is to pay about $400 for training and testing from a private company.

 

State Farm – a longtime supporter of the OSU-OKC’s Staying Alive defensive driving program for teens and young adults – learned about the need and offered to help OSU-OKC launch the Road to Independence program.

 

"Some young adults who age out of foster care have trouble getting a driver's license ,and it adds to the many challenges they already face," said State Farm Corporate Responsibility Analyst Jeff Davis. "We hope that obtaining a license through the Road to Independence program will change that."  

 

The Road to Independence program provides the driver’s training and licensing exam for participants. Eligible students can register at https://apply.osuokc.edu/register/R2I to receive more information about the Road to Independence program and future openings.

 

The Staying Alive program teaches defensive and proactive driving skills to keep teenage drivers safe and reduce the number of teenage crashes and fatalities which will exponentially create safer roads for all users. The Staying Alive program will provide defensive driving training to young drivers within Oklahoma City and surrounding metropolitan areas in order to reduce the risk of motor vehicle crashes in the first few years of their driving experience.

 

Driver’s education training at OSU-OKC normally costs $360. It consists of 10 hours of classroom instruction at the Precision Driving Training Center, 3501 W Reno Ave., followed by hands-on driver training with an instructor. The classroom instruction is offered one weekend each month.