If you’re a company or worker in the manufacturing sector than you’ve noticed the difference CareerEdge Funders is making in the industry. A 2012 Skills Gap Study commissioned by CareerEdge Funders revealed regional employers have major concerns regarding the lack of talented workers available, the quality of training produced by our educators and the lack of soft skills found in the current workforce. CareerEdge Funders sought to address these issues and brought key stakeholders to the table to do just that.

Mireya Eavey, Executive Director of CareerEdge Funders spearheaded a collaborated effort with Sarasota County Commission, Sarasota Technical College (STC), Gulf Coast Community Foundation, and regional employers to update equipment in the schools, update curriculum being used in the classroom and connect students to current opportunities the industry offered. To close the gaps this study uncovered a new CNC Machining program at STC was developed and launched in 2013.

The CNC program graduated its first class of 15 students with a 100% job placement. On June 25^th STC will graduate its sophomore class, a class of 15. Half of the class graduates are already putting their education to practice working in manufacturing careers. STC can’t get students enrolled fast enough and companies have positions vacant and ready to fill with graduates- a refreshing change of pace following the hard hits of the economy the last several years. This year, STC launched an evening class to accommodate the demand for students seeking to obtain additional credentials while working full time positions; the current cohort of 6 will graduate this fall.

The success of this program didn’t happen overnight. It took a community-wide effort to bring the CNC program to life. Sarasota County Commission made a $313,000 investment so STC could purchase updated equipment. Regional companies invested time to develop content and curriculum that would be used in the classroom so it would be relevant in the workplace. CareerEdge Funders paved the way for this program to launch and helped unemployed, disadvantaged members of our community enter and complete the program successfully.

The movements of this community-wide approach created a ripple affect still being felt around the region. Companies who are industry competitors now sit around the table to discuss skills training, necessary industry credentials and how they can collaborate to minimize skill gaps. Educators and employers are now communicating; discussing career paths available, what training and credentials are necessary to keep employees in our community and how to help workers advance in their fields as technology continues to evolve and advance. Our community has shown get strides in joining forces to leverage resources, keep our workers competitive and diminish skill gaps and unemployment.

The impact these efforts made extend beyond the manufacturing community; the lives of those who participated in the program and the companies which grew their workforce as a result. The collaboration of government, educators, community organizations and companies coming together to implement a solution is a blueprint for how we as a region will address other workforce issues. CareerEdge Funders will continue to diminish skill gaps, help companies grow, assist in the economic development of our region and create better opportunities for the citizens in our community.

To help celebrate the success of this program and these efforts join us for the STC CNC Program Graduation, June 25^th from 6:00-9:00pm at the Sarasota Technical College Conference Centered located at: 4748 Beneva Road, Sarasota FL

For more information on CareerEdge Funders, our partners and services visit our website at: www.CareerEdgeFunders.org like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or email us at info@careeredgefunders.org

I am very concerned about the impacts of Senate Bill 1252 on my community’s college, the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, and I urge you to not support this bill. The State College of Florida plays a central role in the higher education of our community. The college provides a low-cost start for many students who move on to the state’s University system after earning their Associate of Arts degree and provides workforce education and training that directly benefits our economy. SCF provides the educational opportunities that keep members of our community home and allow them to pursue low-cost higher education opportunities without disrupting their jobs and families.

SCF’s baccalaureate programs are very important to our community. These programs were developed in partnership with the business communities of Manatee and Sarasota Counties and address critical community needs not met by other local higher education institutions. The individuals seeking these degrees are typically working professionals who are trying to expand their education to advance their skills in the workplace without disrupting their jobs and families or acquiring education debt. Lengthening the time it takes for SCF to offer a degree program that the community requests or to cap the allowed enrollment in these programs only serves to punish the students who could benefit from the programs and inhibits the college’s ability to quickly respond to community needs.

Forcing SCF to change its name now will confuse people in a very crowded higher education market. In 2009, words changed when Manatee Community College became State College of Florida, but the local commitment didn’t. SCF is as much this community’s college today as it was as MCC or Manatee Junior College. There is no confusion in Manatee and Sarasota Counties on SCF’s role in the community or its mission. Using the word “state” in the name clarifies that the college is a public, open access institution, not a college seeking a state-wide presence. Ninety-two percent of SCF’s enrollment is from Manatee and Sarasota Counties. Clearly, the college understands its service area, is deeply committed to its students and is dedicated to being responsive to community needs.

A name change also results in an unnecessary expense for the college, and in turn, the taxpayers who fund the college. The money SCF would be forced to spend on changing signs, logos and documents could be much better spent on developing and enhancing academic programs for our area students.

I encourage you to not support this bill. It is not only damaging to the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, but to Manatee and Sarasota Counties as well.

Thank you for your consideration.

Carol Probstfeld
President
State College of Florida
5840 26th Street West
Bradenton, FL 34207
(941) 752-5201

 

By Michael Pollick

Published: Tuesday, March 3, 2015 at 5:05 p.m.

CareerEdge Funders Collaborative of Bradenton and St. Petersburg College have formed a new joint venture aimed at getting 300 workers certified to work in supply-chain jobs in the next two years.

The new deal for would-be workers is called “TDL Tampa Bay,” or “transportation, distribution and logistics.”

While this specific partnership is with a Pinellas County institution, CareerEdge Funders executive director Mireya Eavey emphasized that State College of Florida and other schools also will be involved, and that the job seekers to be helped are to be from Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties as well as from Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

St. Petersburg College, as part of a consortium of a dozen colleges nationwide, has been working on eight new career certification courses since 2013, with funding from the Department of Labor. The college has 10 campuses throughout Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

Meanwhile, CareerEdge, which has its offices at State College of Florida’s Lakewood Ranch campus, has lined up a $220,000 starter grant for the new partnership from a national non-profit group called Jobs for the Future.

“These are brand-new industry certifications that will assist the unemployed and underemployed in getting entry or mid-level positions in the supply chain,” said Marta Przyborowski, who runs the St. Petersburg College program from the school’s main office in Clearwater.

Of the eight new certifications, two have been rolled out: “supply chain management principles” and “warehousing operations.”

Studying online

Much of the coursework will be done online through WebEx, a live interactive video meeting system developed by Cisco Systems Inc..

“Say some people at PGT are going to take this class,” Eavey said, referring to the Venice-based hurricane-resistant window and door maker. “Their employees will go to a classroom and the live WebEx will be in the classroom. We are bringing the classroom here by WebEx and technology.”

The supply chain course is being taught entirely online. Warehousing operations will be taught through a combination of classroom and online instruction.

Other courses will help workers earn industry-recognized credentials such as a Commercial Drivers License, or CDL, or to become a Global Logistics Associate. Some of the courses will allow students to earn college credit leading to an associate’s degree in transportation, distribution and logistics.

The funding is money that could go to pay tuition starting today, Eavey said.

Other sources of money are lining up to support the TDL partnership, she said.

Ready to hire

At Sarasota County’s Gold Coast Eagle Distributing, human resources director Leslie Heller said her company already is in line for the partnership’s newly certified workers.

She says she could hire five Class A CDL-licensed truck drivers who have customer service experience if they walked into the office today.

“You can have a good driver, but you have to be able to communicate with the customers,” Heller said. “They are representing Gold Coast Eagle at that moment.”

Eavey said she is also in communication with Bealls Inc., the Bradenton-based department store operator, and with PGT regarding their training needs.

Meanwhile, CareerEdge expects to continue to enhance its working relationship with State College of Florida, which has been a partner since 2010.

That school’s Corporate and Community Development division now offers related certifications, such as “Certified in Production and Inventory Management.”

“We’re pleased to continue in our partnership with CareerEdge and educational partners to understand employers’ perspectives and needs and provide the best training to meet the workforce demands in our area,” SCF President Carol F. Probstfeld said.

 

March 2, 2015 (Sarasota, FL) – CareerEdge Funders Collaborative and St. Petersburg College (SPC) have partnered to provide training to strengthen the region’s growing transportation, distribution and logistics (TDL) workforce. The partnership, TDL Tampa Bay, is funded through a grant CareerEdge received from Jobs for the Future. CareerEdge has been awarded $220,000 to train 300 individuals over the next two years and provide them support and job placement services in the Tampa Bay, Sarasota and Manatee Region. The projects will connect underrepresented populations to the industry, with each site committing to serve at least 25 percent female participants.
This is the first time SPC and CareerEdge, which is housed at State College of Florida in Manatee County, have partnered to provide workforce training. TDL Tampa Bay, will serve employers and workers throughout Florida’s eight-county Tampa Bay region, with priority emphasis on Manatee, Sarasota, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, which forecasts a 13.8% growth in TDL jobs by 2021.

The 10 workforce partnerships include strong participation from TDL businesses in both design and implementation, to ensure that individuals complete programs with skills and certifications that are in-demand in their regional labor market. Workers will earn industry-recognized credentials such as a Commercial Driver’s License and Global Logistics Associate certificate, and many will also earn college credits that lead toward Associate’s degrees in TDL.
TDL Tampa Bay will capitalize on both organization’s strengths, pairing CareerEdge’s expertise in helping area employers meet the challenges of a fast-changing economy and SPC’s LINCS Supply Chain Management academic program. “This partnership will be a true asset as we strive to train our students to meet the burgeoning demand for a skilled supply chain workforce,” said St. Petersburg College President Bill Law. “This strikes at the very heart of our efforts at the college – to help students enter or re-enter the workforce with the skills they need to build careers in high-demand industries.”

BRADENTON — It may not be easy to find a common thread that ties a capital-driven group of businesses and a socially driven community organization together — except when the shared interest is the success of long-term investments.

Even the definition of investment may differ between an organization like the Bradenton Downtown Development Authority and CareerEdge, a nonprofit organization that provides employment skills to untrained workers. But the DDA’s $200,000 investment hopes over the past four years in CareerEdge and the nonprofit’s goals are the same.

Investment for all is in the local workforce and it’s paying off in a big way, according to Mireya Eavey, executive director of CareerEdge.

Eavey was the executive director when the organization was founded in 2010 to serve Manatee and Sarasota counties under the umbrella of the national Workforce Solutions program. Eavey left the organization for a short time, but returned with good news for the DDA in her first annual report since resuming her role.

“When CareerEdge first began 3 1/2 years ago, I realize DDA took a gamble, not knowing if the program would work,” said Eavey. “I’m here to say ‘Thank you.’ You took a chance and it paid off.”

Eavey presented the organization’s annual progress report to the DDA board of directors Tuesday at city hall.

David Gustafson, DDA executive director, reintroduced Eavey to the board, saying her tenacity in helping people improve their lives is unmatched.

“She really makes a difference in the community and she certainly changes people’s lives,” said Gustafson.

Eavey said when CareerEdge first began in 2010, the three-year goal was to train 300 people for skilled employment positions. They’ve done a little better than those original goals.

“We have since served 2,123 people who have earned 4,984 different types of certificates to become eligible for specific employment opportunities by taking 7,189 classes,” she said.

So what does mean to business and the local economy?

It means a steady stream of trained workers who have gone from either low-wage jobs or being unemployed, to putting more than $5.6 million in wages earned back into the community.

Eavey said those investments have been key to the ongoing, award-winning success of the agency, but CareerEdge would never exist without the initial $1 million investment from the Knight Foundation.

“From there, the CCRA came on board and then the DDA,” said Eavey. “We also are the only organization of our kind housed by the city government and that has been the kind of great support we have had from the city and Mayor Wayne Poston.”

Vernon DeSear, DDA board chair, said it’s been a good collaboration and a positive for the community.

“Most important to us is that we see the results in creating a better work ethic,” he said. “People who participate in this program are clearly more engaged in their jobs.”

Gustafson agreed and said there has to be measurable successes to determine whether an investment has worked. In the case of CareerEdge, Gustafson said it was clear the DDA investment is paying off in skilled workers and an increase to the local economy.

“But there is an emotional side to this, as well, to get to see people succeed,” he said.

When an entity like CCRA or DDA invests, Eavey said, the money must go to training workers for businesses within those districts. She cited Manatee County Memorial Hospital as an example of benefitting from CareerEdge training health care workers.

“That kind of effort will continue,” she said. “But the goals of the future are to move low-wage employees into higher paid jobs and create system-change partnerships with businesses and community-based organizations.

Also, we want to expand our Bridges to Career program, which educates potential employees in how to interview and present themselves to a potential employer.”

And if Eavey is correct, there may be more employers available in specific markets soon.

“Transportation and logistics are the fastest-growing industry sectors in the county right now,” said Eavey. “That’s what we are looking at next in investing.”