March 28, 2024

Banner Years

Mike Vogel | 8/1/2007

Instructor Geri Lockhart (left) helps sleep lab tech student Leslie Oakley at the Valencia Community College Banner health sciences training center. Registered polysomnography techs make $37,000 to $48,000 a year. [Photo: Jeffrey Camp]

Using state and federal money, the state has opened 10 Employ Florida Banner Centers since January 2006 to train workers for industries deemed critical to Florida’s economic future. Others focused on IT and alternative energy are coming soon. The centers partner with industry to develop training curricula other institutions in Florida can follow. The early report is that 900 people have been trained, of whom 300 have received industry certification and 100 have gotten new jobs.
The 10 are:

» Aviation/Aerospace: Florida Community College based in Jacksonville and Brevard Community College — Focuses on attracting workers into aviation and retraining existing workers in aerospace

» Biotechnology: The University of Florida — Aims to bring entry-level workers into a one-year program and also train existing employees

» Construction: Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville — Focuses on entry-level workers for high-demand trades

» Energy: Lake-Sumter Community College in Leesburg — Expands line technician skills and offers introductory courses for young people and the underemployed

» Financial Services: Miami Dade College — Focuses on expanding skills of entry-level workers (currently on hold)

» Health Sciences: Valencia Community College in Orlando — Trains existing nurses for nurse faculty slots to remove the teacher bottleneck in nurse education. Also offers radiography certification training for workers with associate’s degrees

» Homeland Security: Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce — Trains existing security and emergency response workers to handle threats to nuclear facilities. Also is developing programs for identifying threats at transportation hubs

» Logistics & Distribution: Lake City Community College — Has a state-of-the-art truck-driving simulator and aims to improve skills of existing truckers, attract workers to the transportation field and develop supply chain management training

» Manufacturing: Hillsborough Community College in Tampa — Attracts people to the field and is establishing new testing sites around Florida for industry certification for workers from the national Manufacturing Skills Standard Council

» Career Academies: Led by Okaloosa County school district, it doesn’t train workers but focuses on expanding career education in Florida high schools and technical schools

Initially, most workers didn’t pay for training from centers, which received state support and in some cases employer support. Centers are beginning to charge for training and also are working with their industries and local Workforce boards to develop sustainable funding sources.

Source: Workforce Florida

Tags: North Central

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