Employ Florida Banner Centers

What are Employ Florida Banner Centers and where did the concept originate?

The concept surfaced formally in the 2004-2009 Roadmap to Florida’s Future and remains a world-class talent component of the latest economic development blueprint for Florida—the 2007-2010 plan. Workforce Florida, Inc., which is charged with serving as a catalyst for developing workforce talent in Florida, responded to the call with the creation of Employ Florida Banner Centers in 2006. Based on what the Roadmap says about these centers, which were referred to as Workforce Education Cluster Centers, the guiding principles are to:

• Become the statewide nexus for industry knowledge related to workforce needs of a targeted industry.
• Develop industry-driven workforce development products and services valued by businesses designed to train a globally competitive workforce.
• Support the pipeline development needs of the industry from entry-level to advanced workers.
• Deliver workforce development products, services, training and access to certifications valued by industry.
• Expand delivery through partnerships with industry and other educational facilities across the state; secondary and postsecondary, public and private.
• Promote and support economic development in a targeted industry throughout the state.
• Utilize the value of products and services developed to create income/revenue streams.
• Use a business model for becoming a self-sustaining entity within three years.

They were given the name Banner Centers because they are designed to serve as the leading resource and focal point for ensuring the state’s economic priority for increasing talent in high-skill, high-wage targeted sectors is being addressed.

What do they do and who is involved?

With the first center designated in 2006, Banner Centers are charged with becoming a statewide, go-to resource for cutting-edge training for entry-level and experienced workers who need to upgrade their skills in high-value sectors such as biotechnology, homeland security and defense, manufacturing, energy, alternative energy, logistics and distribution, aviation/aerospace, construction, and agriscience. Each Banner Center is led by a Florida community college, university or organization, which serves as the home base.

Banner Centers partner with industry in targeted sectors to identify training needs and, among other things, create new curricula. A key objective is to create timely and relevant training that can be shared across multiple educational institutions for access by businesses in other areas of the state, thus reducing duplication. In other words, you can create it in one place and use it in another without another institution having to start from the beginning to address identical industry training needs in its community. Currently, there are 10 Banner Centers.

In October 2008, the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) presented Workforce Florida with an Excellence Award for partnership with educational institutions for the Banner Centers initiative.

What’s the Value of Banner Centers for Florida Business?

Consider the workforce of 2020. According to labor market statistics, more than 70 percent of Florida’s current labor force will still be in the state’s workforce 12 years from now. That’s why skills upgrade training is critical to businesses and critical to Florida’s future. Banner Centers are designed to respond to these needs in a way that hadn’t previously existed before in Florida with workforce, education and industry all working together through primarily postsecondary institutions to address existing, real-time and emerging needs for training.

For additional information, please contact:

Adriane Glenn Grant
Director of External Affairs
agrant@workforceflorida.com
(Media Inquiries)

Catherine Kennedy
Program Manager
ckennedy@workforceflorida.com
(General Inquiries)

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