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Pittsburgh City Council

Driver’s ed pilot program could help city residents get jobs.

Written by Amy Whipple

  • Council Member Barb Warwick of Greenfield proposed resurrecting a workforce development program that has been dormant for six years and spending the money to teach city residents to drive.
  • She said the program still has $300,000 sitting unused and could create a pilot program for people in workforce development programs to obtain or reinstate their driver’s license.
  • Employers often require employees to have a driver’s license even if driving is not part of the job description. The problem is nothing new. In 2016 the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 30% of civilian jobs involve some driving.
  • The driver’s license requirement creates an often unnecessary barrier to entering the workforce. In the past three years, Oregon, Washington and California have banned the practice unless driving is essential to the job. Council Member Anthony Coghill of Beechview said that obtaining a license is particularly difficult for people who do not have access to a car to practice driving.
  • Council Member Bob Charland of the South Side said that he has become “radicalized” on the importance of the issue. “I thought it was a kind of silly thing for the city to get involved in,” he said, “and now I think it is, like, one of the most important things that we can be involved in.”
  • The proposed legislation is an amendment to the ordinance that created the workforce development fund which called for the city to work with the state and federal governments to help people pay off funds for non-driving related tickets that lead to license suspensions. The amended legislation would also create a program for drivers’ education which could include courses for a commercial driver’s license (CDL).
  • Warwick said the money could be used for students in Pittsburgh Public Schools’ career and technical education programs, the Trade Institute of Pittsburgh and apprenticeship programs.
  • The legislation would allow the Department of Human Resources and the Office of Management and Budget to manage the distribution of the money and allow the city authority to receive money from outside sources to enhance the fund.

Connections to this story

Elected officials:
Anthony Coghill
Topics:
Economic Development
Governments:
Pittsburgh City Council
Public meetings:
City Council · September 9, 2025
Sources:
Ordinance 2025-2198 — amending the Pittsburgh Code of Ordinances, Title II: Fiscal, Article V: Special Funds, Chapter 236: Workforce…

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