MILWAUKEE — TMJ4 and The Greater Milwaukee Urban League are teaming up for the Adopt-a-Driver campaign as part of TMJ4's ongoing Project: Drive Safer initiative.
The Greater Milwaukee Urban League has a mission of empowering communities and changing lives. That's what Adopt a Driver is all about! It's about providing equitable access to driver's education, in an attempt to make streets safer.
"Safe driving is for everybody. No one should be eliminated or excluded from taking a driving education class because of finances," said Shirron Jude, The Greater Milwaukee Urban League's Director of Programs.
The goal of the Urban League is to expand its class offerings to reach more 15 to 17-year-old students free of charge.
WATCH: TMJ4's Megan Lee explains Adopt A Driver
That's where our TMJ4 viewers can help.
"The program itself, just one student, it's anywhere from $350 per student to $450 per student and that includes the education, the driver's permit, testing," Jude said.
With the cost to send a student to Driver's Ed sky high, and with schools no longer required to offer the classes, many families are in a position where they can't afford to send their child to Driver's Education courses.
In addition to the cost, the course is a time commitment for teens and their families.
"The teens, from 15 through 17, have to have 30 hours of classroom, they have to have 6 hours of observation and then you have to have 6 hours of behind-the-wheel," said Jude.
Your support could lead to safer streets.
"Collectively as a community, I think we all have to buy in and say 'Hey, we're working together to close that gap on this reckless driving with teens and the deaths that are associated with teens because of reckless driving," said Jude. "If it takes a whole village to raise a child, it's going to take a whole community - a whole city - to have buy-in to close the gap on this reckless driving."
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