|
Federal funding for Florida TRADE comes to an end this month
The Florida TRADE consortium started with a partnership of 12 Florida state and community colleges, local workforce boards, business and manufacturing associations, economic development organizations, K-12 school districts and technical schools, non-profits and other community partners. In September 2012, the group was awarded a $15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to develop and implement technical training programs and services for displaced and unemployed workers, incumbent workers, students, and returning veterans that will lead to employment in today’s high-tech manufacturing market.
Programs included outreach, enrollment, training, preparation for national credentials, and placement assistance into jobs and internships. Training and national certification was made available for production technicians, CNC operators, mechatronics workers, welders, and persons using programmable logic controllers, quality assurance methods, computer aided design, and robotics.
The Consortium and individual colleges are working to tally performance numbers but the preliminary results include:
2504 program completers including 1400 incumbent workers
2259 students who earned at least one certification
922 program completers placed in jobs in manufacturing
773 students completing academic credit hours toward a degree
|
