We live in a country whose vastness leaves its citizens largely dependent on transportation. People in rural areas can effectively be cut off from jobs, family, and necessities due to transportation deserts. Even heavily-populated metro areas can be spread out and difficult to traverse if one does not have access to reliable transportation. This issue was one that Tech Valley Shuttle CEO Trent Griffin-Braaf was determined to solve.
Named the 2023 Small Business Person of the Year for upstate NY by the SBA, Tech Valley Shuttle has done far more than bring needed transportation to the upstate New York area. The business has effectively empowered an entire community of job-seekers, incarcerated individuals, and their families, as well as minority entrepreneurs hoping to follow in the determined footsteps of Griffin-Braaf.
It all Started with Some Lollipops
“I’ve been an entrepreneur since I can recall,” Griffin-Braaf told The Times Union. “I remember almost getting suspended from middle school because of my lollipop business.” His road to eventual Forbes-level success wasn’t without some major bumps and detours along the way, however. Incarcerated for a non-violent offense in his younger days, Griffin-Braaf saw firsthand the struggle of those who were kept away from family due to a lack of transportation.
Beginning as a one-vehicle taxi company in 2010, Trent Griffin-Braaf now boasts a fleet of 50+ vehicles to serve upstate New York communities.
“Our mission is to combat poverty through transportation and workforce solutions and options for the underserved. Our services go beyond the road in supporting the communities we travel through,” says Griffin-Braaf on his company’s website. Touching on a variety of needs for the community at large, Tech Valley Shuttle provides comprehensive transportation services, including pick-ups and drop-offs to and from local airports, non-emergency medical appointments, visits to incarcerated loved ones, job interviews, and even to their own weddings.
Getting People Where they Need To Go
The issue of transportation deserts doesn’t just adversely affect the incarcerated. Those with a lack of transportation access often forgo healthcare and have limited job prospects, contributing to generational poverty. In fact, one of the first questions most jobs ask of their applicants is if they have reliable transportation, often overlooking the issue of having transportation to their interview in the first place.
Transportation deserts have sprung from various sources, from poor city infrastructure and planning, to urban and suburban sprawl, and racist redlining policies that quite literally abandoned entire groups of marginalized people. The affordable transportation services offered by Tech Valley build what Griffin-Braaf considers “tunnels” — rather than bridges — to solutions.
“We are digging deep to find transportation solutions for the community,” Griffin-Braaf explains. By putting a heavy emphasis on community connection and customer service, Tech Valley Shuttle has made a name for itself in a relatively short period of time, setting an example as a business looking to create viable solutions to age-old problems.
Uplifting the Underrepresented
Tech Valley Shuttle is more than just a transportation company — it is a way for Griffin-Braaf to help those from similar backgrounds to his own get a leg up in life, especially following incarceration. Griffin-Braaf focuses on hiring former inmates, veterans, and single parents, and goes one step further by helping them in their personal lives and even mentoring many to start their own businesses.
“We started by sharing my story as someone who was incarcerated. As we grew, we highlighted that we hired people from the same demographics and are being successful doing it,” Griffin-Braaf explains about his hiring and retention approach in the age of record resignations. “People are bringing an extensive amount of knowledge and we wouldn’t be where we are without the team.”
Griffin-Braaf crafted his organizational approach by tapping into the experience of human resource and organizational psychology experts. He hopes that his example and dedication to creating an organization, with a foundational focus on helping people rise above their circumstances, will be a beacon for other companies who wish to do the same.
“I refused to allow my past to define who I was or who I could become,” Griffin-Braaf told New York Weekly.
Acknowledging and leading from his own past experience, Griffin-Braaf helps those he hires create mission statements that allow them to forge a path to eventual success after a setback, such as incarceration. Through his mentoring and programs, buoyed by the experts he has hired, Tech Valley Shuttle’s employees can learn valuable life and work skills, and build confidence. The result is a disruptive organizational approach that is changing lives.
By taking advantage of a number of tax credits received for hiring ex-inmates or those on government assistance, Griffin-Braaf and his team are able to reinvest in the business and the areas of uplifting management on which they wish to expand. “We’re investing in every member of our team and want every person who comes in to feel like they are growing,” he told Albany Business Review.
Griffin-Braaf intends to continue growing Tech Valley Shuttle and help as many people as he can along the way. Everything he does is all in the name of providing opportunities and helping people better themselves, and, as stated on his company’s website, “driving people to success”.
For more info on Trent and his roadmap to success program helping organizations find success with underserved populations visit www.trentgriffinbraaf.com and for more info on Tech Valley Shuttle please visit www.techvalleyshuttle.com.
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