Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited South Florida State College’s (SFSC) Highlands Campus in Avon Park on Tuesday, Oct. 25 to present Dr. Thomas C. Leitzel, SFSC president, with a check in the amount of $2.8 million toward the development of critical workforce academies in the College’s service district of Highlands, Hardee, and DeSoto counties. Jackie Skryd, vice president for workforce development and corporate relations, from St. Petersburg College was presented with a check for $3.4 million and Colin Chesley, Ed.D., associate vice president for the School of Health and Public Services, and Evan Doyle, assistant chair for the Law Enforcement Academy, from Daytona State College were given a check for $2.8 million.
This initiative is funded by the Future Florida Critical Workforce Needs Grant through the federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) and administered by St. Petersburg College. Subgrants were awarded to SFSC and Daytona State College.
“We want to make sure that we’re meeting the needs of critical areas of our workforce,” said Gov. DeSantis. “We are awarding $9 million to three state colleges to strengthen K-12 and college workforce education programs.
“What this funding is going to do is help these colleges establish regional partnerships with area school districts to develop career academies for in-demand occupations,” the governor said. “So, these academies will support workforce education programs for careers in emergency management, law enforcement, education, and more. These are important parts of our economy and our society. And we suspect that more than 2,000 students will graduate with credentials in these high demand fields as a result of this effort.”
The Florida Department of Education identified particular critical workforce needs within Florida’s Heartland. Through SFSC’s portion of this initiative, critical workforce academies will be established at all high schools in SFSC’s service district and focus on specific career pathways to address critical needs in the region. Those pathways are Automotive and Supply Chain Management in DeSoto County, Education and Healthcare in Highlands and Hardee counties, and Emergency/911 Telecommunications in Hardee County.
The Critical Workforce Academies will focus on providing dual-enrolled high school students with individual support, including academic and career advising, tutoring, and specialized high school-to-college transition support.
All funds for this initiative will be allocated equally among the three school districts, providing each with approximately $667,000. The funds will provide classroom technology, equipment, instructional resources, tutoring services, and transportation.
“This project starts in the high schools and builds pathways,” Dr. Leitzel said. “My friend, Dr. Brenda Longshore, superintendent of Highlands County Public Schools, is here today to share in this great announcement, because they will benefit in this as we get students in the pipeline that will graduate and fulfill the important jobs that the governor described.”
It is anticipated that the Critical Workforce Academies in Highlands, Hardee, and DeSoto counties will be in operation by January 2023.
“Workforce matters,” Dr. Leitzel said. “I’m glad I live and work in a state where the governor supports workforce education. The governor has an ambitious goal in mind: he wants Florida to be the No. 1 workforce state by 2030. The Florida College System is going to help get us there. We are supportive of that through projects like Accelerate Florida, which brings all of our colleges in the Florida College System together to get behind the efforts in workforce education. By 2030, our state will be the No. 10 economy in the world. Not in the nation, but in the world.”
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