On June 30 2023 the funding ended for the Open Road Driving Programme and it finished operating here in Wellington. Open Road was an established nationwide driving programme for men and women of refugee background which ChangeMakers has delivered since 2017. It has helped thousands of people from refugee backgrounds to learn to drive across Aotearoa.
We are devastated to see the programme end as we know there are still many people from a refugee background that need to learn to drive and we hear daily how learning to drive opens up so many opportunities for those who have passed their tests. Our Turning the Curve womens driving programme continues and we are looking for how we can offer alternatives to the Open Road programme.
Looking back Open Road has been an amazing programme to be part of held together by a very committed team of volunteer driving mentors, our practice navigator Nadia and incredible Driving Instructor George. In 6 years as a team we have achieved:
| 133 Restricted Licences | 54 Full Licences | 4 International Conversion Licences | 191 Total driver licences |
It has been wonderful to meet the many learners and volunteers on our programme and to share the joy of so many who achieved their goal of learning to drive.
