Ronda Umbel

Training & Employment Goals Achieved for Garrett County Client

Ronda came to the Garrett County office of the Western Maryland Consortium in late 2019 seeking a skills upgrade to increase her income and job opportunities. She was a dislocated worker struggling through inconsistent part time jobs and had been affected by the opioid epidemic relying on public assistance to get by in life. After receiving career counseling and information on WIOA funding from the staff at WMC, Ronda decided to train for her CDL A license to earn a better living. Because Ronda had been impacted by the current opioid epidemic, she qualified for assistance through the National Health Emergency Dislocated Worker Grant (Maryland Workforce Response to the Opioid Crisis). Her husband had been a truck driver before his health deteriorated and she always enjoyed going out on the road with him. Ronda’s career counselor helped her get enrolled in CDL A training with the Mountaintop Truck Driving Institute through Garrett College in Grantsville, MD. In February 2020, Ronda earned her Commercial Driver’s License with the class A endorsement. It did not take Ronda long to find a steady, good paying job as a truck driver and for the first time she has a job with benefits and insurance! She signed on as a driver in training with U.S. Xpress in March 2020 and is enjoying traveling the country while earning a great wage.