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Bryan Nelson Appointed to CareerSource Board - Provides Information on Grants and Services

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In November 2015, Orange County Commissioner Bryan Nelson was appointed by Governor Rick Scott to the CareerSource Florida Board of Directors. This State-wide board oversees 24 local workforce development boards and 100 career centers.

Commissioner Nelson provided the following update to The Apopka Voice:

CareerSource also consists of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. CareerSource Florida was formerly known as Work Force Florida. In 2014 the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), became law and reauthorized the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998. The WIOA expanded and amended workforce programming, development, partnerships, and measurements.

CareerSource Florida will develop and implement plans that align with the WIOA and is focused on accomplishing three goals:

First, to enhance our states’ responsiveness to the rapidly changing workforce, education and economic systems within the state. It is their goal to connect businesses with skilled talent and connect Floridians with permanent employment, training and career support.

Second, Florida is focused on improving and promoting proper performance monitoring and evaluation systems to identify the “best practices” that will strengthen the “workforce delivery system”.

Third, Career Source Florida seeks to, “improve career exploration, educational attainment and skills training for in-demand industries and occupations for Florida youth”.

Last year CareerSource Florida and the City of Apopka initiated a program, Apopka Youth Works, to provide training to low-income or disadvantaged youth. It was an eight-week program that provided occupational training and gave 32 students the opportunity to earn money over the summer.

Career Source Florida is diversifying our state’s economy by supplying Florida’s workforce with the necessary skills to obtain high wage jobs and permanent employment in our state.

In June 2015 CareerSource Florida was awarded a $7 million federal grant to focus on training and meeting the needs of our rapidly growing healthcare and advanced manufacturing business sectors. Career Florida is allocating federal funding to ensure our economic success. This includes providing training grants to local businesses.

There are several types of grants available for businesses to train future employees or incumbent employees.

Florida Flex Grants are available to businesses that relocate to Florida or businesses looking to expand. These grants cover training costs for new, full time employees once jobs are created or retained. This is a reimbursement grant for which the business will pay for training costs and then be reimbursed. This grant will only cover expenses for newly created jobs in targeted high skill industries such as aviation, financial services, info technology, life sciences, or clean tech fields.

Incumbent Worker Training Grants assist with continuing education and training costs for increasing the skills of current workers within a business. This grant is specifically for small businesses with 50 or less employees.

CareerSource Florida also offers local grants that focus on the market needs of businesses in various locations throughout the state.

CareerSource Central Florida offers services to businesses in Orange County. These services include HR assistance and finding the right job candidates.

For job seekers CareerSource Central Florida offers career consultations, an online job board listing various openings and career training which includes the Individual Training Scholarship Program. This program is to help job seekers pay for training.

I recently held a short term training program orientation at the John Bridges Center on Valencia College’s new short-term training programs such as 911 Telecommunication and Construction certifications. CareerSource will allocate funds to assist qualified students with training expenses for this program.

For more information regarding services offered by CareerSource Central Florida please visit http://careersourcecentralflorida.com/

Apopka Youth Works, Bryan Nelson, Career Source

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