ACE Partnership With Salvation Army

Early September, ACE CDL started the application process for the October cohort of drivers. This cohort was a special one as it was in partnership with The Salvation Army. When Michael Gunn created ACE he wanted to teach underserved individuals in the community who were looking for a new career or a second chance at success. He wanted to provide them with affordable CDL training and job opportunities. Michael wanted to provide this training at no cost to the students often sponsoring students with money out of his own pocket for the first two cohorts he conducted. As it became increasingly harder to handle this cost of training students for free, and even harder to find the students who needed the training, Michael started to reach out to other non-profits in the community. One of the non profits he reached out to, was the workforce development department at the Salavation Army.

Michael told them about what the mission of ACE CDL was and how it aligned with what The Salvation Army's mission. The Salvation Army works with people in the community to get access to resources and find work. Many of the people they work with are second chance citizens, women, and veterans. These were the exact type of individuals that Michael wanted to serve. After a few conversations, The Salvation Army informed Michael that they wanted to partner together for ACE's October Cohort. They agreed to put a few of their own students through CDL training with ACE. They also sponsored eight of the twelve students in the class, covering the full costs of their training.