TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) -- An Application for a potentially multi-million dollar grant through the US Department of Labor was approved Wednesday by the City of Tallahassee.
The TechHire Innitiative is geared towards giving Americans the opportunities they need to be competitive in a new global and technology focused economy.
The program would operate through community colleges and out-reach programs dedicated to training people for employment in fields such as healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and financial services.
If successful, Tallahassee would be the first city in Florida to receive this designation. White House staff and the Florida League of Cities are both interested in the City’s participation. Potential partnering organizations that have been identified so far include: Tallahassee Community College, CareerSource Capital Region, Florida A&M University, Domi Station, Alliance of Entrepreneur Resource Organization (AERO), and TalTech Alliance.
However, FSU Economics Department Professor Randall Holcombe says new training opportunities may not be needed because we already have good jobs and the people we need to work them.
"Future workers have to have some place to work, so we'd do better to make Tallahassee a more friendly place for entrepreneurs than to train workers for jobs that don't exist." Says Holcombe.
Tallahassee's economy is already the most diverse in the state with money coming in from taxpayers in tourism and agricultural fields. Lowered regulatory barriers and taxes to help budding entrepreneurs is what we really need says the Professor.
Cities applying for the grant are expected to secure leveraged resources to at least 25 percent of the requested funds to support grant activities and accomplish the project’s overall goals.
According to Raoul Lavin, who proposed the initiative at the meeting on Wednesday says, these leveraged resources would include those needed to administer the grant and set up partnerships.
He says the money would be used to target young adults between the ages of 17 to 29 with barriers to employment.
Tallahassee will act as the lead and manager of the project and partners over a period of 48 months with an anticipated start date of June 1, 2016. Partners will need to fulfill education/training activities, placement activities, and participant follow-up for performance outcomes, Lavin says.
Since TechHire was launched in March of 2015, more than 500 employer partners in need of this workforce, have begun working together to find new ways to recruit and place applicants based on their actual skills and to create more fast track tech training opportunities.
The deadline for applying for this grant opportunity is March 11, 2016.
