Workforce: Skilled and Ready

In 2006, Florida’s energy industry faced a potential labor crisis. More than 50% of its workforce would be eligible for retirement within five years. At the same time, Florida’s population was continuing to swell at such a rate that the demand for power was projected to grow by 58% over the next 15 years.

If even half of the energy workforce retired as planned, who would operate Florida’s power plants and service the lines on a day-to-day basis in the coming years? More importantly, in the event of a land-falling hurricane, who would be ready and able to restore power to millions of Floridians? Clearly, this industry needed a new pool of skilled workers, and it needed them now.

Fortunately, Florida’s workforce system has a long-standing record for creating solutions to challenges such as the one facing the state’s energy sector in 2006. Workforce Florida Inc. — the organization charged with developing strategies for strengthening Florida’s workforce through training and employment opportunities — stepped up to the plate. By partnering with Florida’s energy companies and educational institutions, Workforce Florida is today helping to grow the talent that will be needed by Florida’s energy industry tomorrow.

A Banner Approach

An integral component of efforts to train and re-train Florida’s energy workers for the challenges ahead is The Employ Florida Banner Center for Energy, a partnership of Lake-Sumter Community College in Leesburg and Indian River State College in Fort Pierce. Started in 2006 with funding from Workforce Florida and energy industry support, the Center offers curricula for those interested in becoming line technicians or power plant workers — two occupations of critical concern identified by energy companies. A second Banner Center — focusing on alternative energy — is based at the University of Central Florida’s Florida Solar Energy Center. Its focus is on equipping a workforce for development and delivery of renewable energy resources.

The Banner Center for Alternative Energy aims to educate, train and place students in careers such as solar photovoltaics. [Photo courtesy of Workforce Florida Inc.]

The Banner Centers for Energy and Alternative Energy are two of 11 Employ Florida Banner Centers statewide, where hundreds of new and incumbent workers are acquiring cutting-edge skills and earning industry certifications to prepare themselves for careers in industries critical to sustaining and growing Florida’s diverse economy.

Each Banner Center is based at a Florida university or community college. In addition to serving as clearinghouses for companies that need trained workers, these centers create relevant curricula for training both entry-level and advanced workers and ensure that the skills training meets industry standards.

The 11th center — the Employ Florida Banner Center for Secondary Career Academies — provides technical support to school districts in Florida that desire to start new career academies or overhaul existing ones in secondary schools; develops standards and accountability measures for career education programs; and researches and highlights best practices in career education so that Florida can maintain and improve its globally competitive workforce.

“Workforce Florida is working on multiple fronts to link economic development and talent development in sectors vital to Florida’s future, and Banner Centers are one example of how we do just that,” says Chris Hart IV, president and CEO of Workforce Florida.

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