Five months from intake to a CDL career

In five months, Steven Castellanos went from Housing Works intake to a full-time CDL B Driver role at Big Geyser, one of New York City's largest beverage distributors. He's earning $59,000 base plus $28/hour, with 401(k) and health insurance.

This is the story of how that happened — and why the most important part of it took place before he ever walked through our door.

Housing Works

By December 11, 2025 — the day Steven applied to our CDL program — Housing Works had already spent months building the foundation a story like this requires. Stable housing. Active healthcare. The right ID. Completion of Ready For Work, their eight-week workforce development course. A four-week internship under his belt. Trust with a system that had given him every reason to opt out.

This is the part of reentry that doesn't make press releases. It's also the part that determines whether anything that comes next is possible.

Housing Works has been doing this work in New York City for more than three decades — housing, healthcare, harm reduction, advocacy, workforce services — and they do it better than almost anyone. When Steven was referred to us, he wasn't a candidate we had to assess for readiness. He arrived ready.

At Emerge

What the next five months looked like:

• December 11, 2025 — Applied to our CDL program
• February 12, 2026 — Licensed Class A CDL through Ferrari Driving School in Brooklyn
• April 25, 2026 — Signed his offer letter with Big Geyser
• April 26, 2026 — First day on the job

Compensation: $59,000 base plus $28/hour, with 401(k) and health insurance.

Two months from license to first paycheck. Five months from intake to a career.

Our part of the work is straightforward: CDL instruction at a partner driving school, individualized success coaching, employer matching, and 30/60/90-day support post-hire. It's good work. It's also the easy part, relative to what came before it.

After Emerge

Big Geyser — the family-owned NYC distributor behind Snapple, Arizona, and most of the beverages in your bodega — doesn't hire on a maybe. When they signed Steven, they were trusting the full chain that produced him: Housing Works' readiness work, Emerge's training, and Steven's own grit.

One licensed driver, vouched for by two organizations that don't put their name on a candidate they aren't confident in.

That's the model. Housing Works prepares. Emerge trains. Employers like Big Geyser hire. Each link is only as strong as the one before it, and the one before Emerge is the one most workforce programs skip.

What's next for the Emerge Career × Housing Works partnership

Steven is the first. He won't be the last.

Over the coming months, we're scaling the referral pipeline between Housing Works and Emerge Career — moving from one-off success stories to a repeatable pathway that any Housing Works participant ready for a vocational career can step into.

What that looks like in practice: a clear referral process for Housing Works case managers, dedicated intake support on our side, and continued coordination on the wraparound services that make outcomes like Steven's possible.

If you're a Housing Works participant ready for what comes next — or a case manager with someone in mind — visit emergecareer.com or reach out directly. We're building this pipeline together, and we're just getting started.

#ReentryWorks  #CDL  #NewYorkCity  #WorkforceDevelopment  #HousingWorks

About Emerge Career

Emerge Career is a public-benefit corporation building the workforce development infrastructure that justice-impacted New Yorkers deserve. Through our partnership with the New York City Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice and our network of community-based partners — including Housing Works — we deliver Commercial Driver's License (CDL), HVAC, diesel technician, and construction trades training, with end-to-end support from intake through 30/60/90-day post-hire retention. Learn more at emergecareer.com.

About Housing Works

Housing Works is a healing community of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, committed to ending the dual crises of AIDS and homelessness through relentless advocacy, the provision of lifesaving services, and entrepreneurial businesses that sustain its efforts. Its workforce development programs — including Ready For Work — provide New Yorkers with the foundation for sustainable careers.

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