Jefferson Awards

Driving Force for Success

Jefferson Award Winner: Tania Alexander

(CBS 5) She's barely able to reach the truck pedals, but Tania Alexander is the driving force behind an innovative job training program in San Francisco's tough Bay View neighborhood.

"I can easily say I'm 5'2", 130 pounds, if I can drive that tractor trailer, you can, so I don't want to hear it!" she says with a laugh.

She's director, vocational counselor, and the woman who helped start the Bayview Hope Truck Driving Academy.

"I did everything you can think of, including cleaning the building when we didn't have a janitor because I wanted to make this work," she explains.

This collaboration between Goodwill Industries and True Hope Church, where Tania's father is pastor, started three years ago. At first, Tania volunteered to get the program going, but soon was working full time, leaving her job as an insurance broker.

She says, "I applied for the position because I just felt that this is such a wonderful opportunity for people in this community, and I thought you know what, this is far more fulfilling for me than the insurance business."

The opportunity for a new job drew James Cureaux to the program. He successfully got his commercial truck driving license and a full-time position driving for Goodwill.

"Just working there just kind of gave me a different outlook in life," James say. "I'm not the only one out there needing help or trying to make it."

Now James is a full-time teacher at the academy and credits Tania with helping him make a positive change in his life.

In a dusty lot behind the church, students meet and practice maneuvers like docking techniques between the cones. They study engine inspections, safety rules, and transportation laws.

A few blocks away at the Evans Street campus of City College, they get virtual experience in a big rig simulator.

In addition to hands-on training, academy students are required to finish twenty hours in the simulator. At the end of the eight week course, they're ready to take a test for a Class-A commercial license.

"I am so proud of all of them really," Tania says, struggling to keep the tears back. "I'm really so proud of them because many of them have faced significant barriers in their life."

Of the 104 drivers who have taken the course, 80% have gone on to get their Class-A license and 80% of those got full time jobs. In three years, there's not been one accident - a fact that makes Tania proud. Now she'd like to expand the program to give more people the dignity and peace of mind that comes with stable work.

"They are employable, they just need someone to believe in them and give them another chance," she says. "You know everybody needs a chance, everybody does. And so we're able to do that."

So for giving dozens of people the chance to work for a brighter future, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Tania Alexander.

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