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.”

The CareerEdge Funders Collaborative of Manatee and Sarasota counties has received the 2013 Chairman’s Award for Exemplary Collaborative from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, a national philanthropic initiative.

CareerEdge said it was chosen for its measurable results in job and skill training in growth industries, in some cases exceeding its goals by more than 200 percent.

National Fund for Workforce Solutions chairman John Padilla said CareerEdge “embodies the award’s spirit, bringing together employers, educators, government, service providers and philanthropic organizations to deliver education and training services that are advancing the careers of lower-income workers and building system capacity.”

Nathalie deWolf, CareerEdge executive director, stressed that the organization’s results are independently verified. A recent study by Urban Market Ventures showed that the $1.54 million in training grants made by CareerEdge over two years added some $14.5 million to the Gulf Coast economy.

Three U.S. organizations received the Chairman’s Award.

 Dental-hygienist anesthesia course

The deadline is Friday to sign up for a course to meet a new state requirement that allows registered dental hygienists to administer local anesthesia under the supervision of a licensed dentist.

“Local Anesthesia: A Course for Dental Hygienists” will be offered 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 6-9 by the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota Dental Hygiene Program.

The fee of $1,495 includes breakfast and lunch each day. Registration can be done by phone, mail or in person.

For more information, call the college’s Corporate and Community Development Division at 752-5203, email Cindy Hunter, director of Continuing and Community Education, at hunterc@scf.edu or go to scf.edu.

 See your logo on promotions

Red Hott Press, of Sarasota, says it has a new Web solution at Redhottpress.com that allows businesses, schools and not-for-profit organizations to see their logos on more than 100,000 promotional products.

The new site features a progressive Web design and Payment Card Industry-compliant e-commerce for secure online orders. The site also has videos showing how promotional products work.

 Manatee Glens accreditation

The Florida Department of Children and Families gave “Excellent” performance ratings for standards and practices, and client records, in the residential detox program at Manatee Glens Hospital & Addiction Center, in Bradenton.

Now, in addition to the Manatee Glens Hospital and Outpatient Detox, clients can choose to go through detoxification as a resident in the private Addiction Center, Manatee Glens said.