The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has a high percentage of an aging workforce for skilled positions.  According to the 2022 Semi-Annual Report on Female and Minority Employment, 95.14% of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Personnel was a white verses 4.86% being minority.  

As a pre-requisite to prepare more minorities for careers in the transportation industry, a 2-week residential camp is funded annually by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Federal Highway Administration to encourage minority youth to pursue a transportation related field. An application is provided to capture demographics and to gauge youth participant's interest in Summer Transportation Institute.  In the 2024 Summer Transportation Institute Camp, 21 out of 42 youth participants were accepted into the program.  The racial demographic was as follows :

57% Black, 19% were Two or More Races, 15% white, 10% Asian and 4% Latino/Hispanic. 

A pre and post survey was administered for the duration of the camp. Pre survey results showed that 95% of the participants indicated they were interested in learning more about Science, Engineering Projects which remained unchanged afterwards, however, there was a 15% increase in students wanting to learn more about transportation careers after participating in the program. This shows that more cross training youth programs are needed with transportation industry experts and professionals.