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Workforce Florida Weekly Update 9-19-07 |
CONTENTS The State & RegionsGovernor Crist Appoints Dale Brill Director of Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development. TALLAHASSEE – Governor Charlie Crist today appointed Dr. Dale Brill to serve as director of the Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development (OTTED) within the Executive Office of the Governor. “Dale’s strong background and experience will serve this administration well as we continue to nurture an economic climate that encourages diverse, high-wage business to expand and re-locate to Florida,” said Governor Crist. “We are pleased to welcome such a strong, seasoned leader to direct this important office.” Since 2003, Brill most recently served as chief marketing officer for Visit Florida where he was responsible for overseeing all advertising, Internet, public relations and promotional programs for the Florida tourism industry. Brill formerly worked with General Motors Corporation where he directed business and information technology integration to improve the company’s global market share and developed global transformation initiatives. Brill holds a doctorate in communications with a focus in advertising and marketing from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and a bachelor’s degree from Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, North Carolina. “I am honored to serve the people of Florida as a member of the Crist administration,” said Brill. “I am grateful to Governor Crist for this opportunity and look forward to working to keep Florida’s workforce and economy vibrant.” OTTED assists the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Legislature to formulate policies and strategies designed to provide economic opportunities for all Floridians. OTTED provides executive direction and staff support to develop policies and advocate for economic diversification and improvements in Florida’s business climate and infrastructure. Economic development programs are implemented through public/private partnerships for which OTTED provides direct oversight. Governor’s Diversification Awards Highlight Florida Businesses ~ Governor Crist recognizes 12 Florida companies. TALLAHASSEE – Governor Charlie Crist last week recognized 12 Florida companies from across the state with the Governor’s Business Diversification Award. The awards program, sponsored annually by Enterprise Florida (EFI), recognizes companies for diversifying and enriching the state’s economy through job creation and distinctive community involvement and investment. The ceremony kicks off Florida’s 23rd Annual Industry Appreciation Week (September 17-21), created to spotlight excellence in Florida’s business sector. “As we celebrate Industry Appreciation Week, we salute Florida’s business leaders and their contributions to our state’s economy,” said Governor Crist. “Florida owes its strong economy and exceptional job growth to the innovative businesses, diversity of industries and innovative entrepreneurs throughout the Sunshine State. From hardworking manufacturers to energetic entrepreneurs in high-value-added industries, Florida’s business leaders are the source of our prosperity and quality of life.” Florida companies competed for awards in five leadership categories: Business Expansion, Entrepreneurship, Export Excellence, Innovation, and Newcomer. Each nominee competed with other companies, organizations, universities and colleges in similarly sized markets, including Mid Market (county population up to 75,000); Major Market (county population 75,001 to 750,000) and Mega Market (county population 750,001 and higher). Recipients of the Governor’s Business Diversification Awards demonstrate commitment to creating jobs for Floridians, increasing capital investment and promoting corporate citizenship. This year’s award recipients are as follows: Business Expansion The RealSense Prosperity and National Disability Institute Host Asset Building Summit. The RealSense Prosperity Campaign, in conjunction with the Florida Disabilities Developmental Council and the National Disabilities Institute, will host a summit tomorrow, Thursday, September 20, 2007 from 8:00 a.m. until noon at United Way of Northeast Florida, 1301 Riverplace Boulevard, 32207, 4th floor boardroom. Titled Asset Building for People With Disabilities, the summit is focused on proactive outreach to the disability community by the RealSense Campaign and the National Disabilities Institute, Washington, D.C., to teach people with disabilities about the many resources available to them—training that can lead to jobs in the mainstream workforce, and asset building techniques for which they qualify. According to recent Census data, 24.4 percent of people between the ages of 5 and 64 have a disability and 38 percent of working age adults with disabilities live in households with annual incomes of under $15,000. 30 percent have neither checking nor savings accounts. The RealSense Prosperity Campaign, a coalition of agencies, nonprofits and local businesses under the administrative guidance of United Way of Northeast Florida, works in partnership to improve the financial stability of Northeast Florida citizens. RealSense partners work together with three goals in mind—to increase income through free income tax preparation by IRS-trained volunteers for lower income people—primarily those who qualify for federal Earned Income Tax Credit; to increase knowledge and financial skills through free financial classes and financial counseling; and to increase assets through the Individual Development Account program that matches every client dollar saved with two additional dollars to be used toward the purchase of a long term asset—a new home, a business, or higher education. Historically, free tax assistance programs have focused on seniors, low income workers and people who use English as a Second Language. People with disabilities were not targeted as a group, particularly those on public benefits or transitioning into the workplace. During this past tax season, however, RealSense volunteers targeted their outreach efforts to include people with disabilities and more than 250 returns were filed for free from that group—many of which also claimed EITC. “Through this enormous volunteer effort, we are working to get this money back for those who have earned it but may not have known how to claim it,” said Connie Hodges, President of United Way of Northeast Florida. “With federal and state money being cut for critical programs, we’re glad we can make a difference to people with disabilities.” In the three years since its inception, RealSense has brought more than $10 million new federal dollars into the local community. For more information, call 904-390-3207 or visit www.jaxprosperity.org. WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA Receives Two Webawards. ORLANDO, FL … WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA (WCF) has received two Web Marketing Association’s Standard of Excellence WebAwards, one in the employment category and one in the non-profit category, for its Web site www.WorkforceCentralFlorida.com. “As the region’s workforce expert, we designed the WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA Web site to be an authoritative site for both employers and job seekers alike,” said Gary Earl president and chief executive officer of WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA. “The site provides workforce planning, programs, and labor market information for employers and WCF employment and training resources for job seekers.” The WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA Web site provides employers solutions to their recruitment, retention and training needs such as allowing them to post job opportunities and search the resume job bank, apply for up to $100,000 to cover half the cost of training current workers, and review numerous HR topics, articles and resources. Job seekers will find employment and training opportunities like the ability to post resumes online and search the job bank, review an online calendar of seminars and browse through tips, articles, and services. In August 2007 alone, the WCF Web site received 149,389 site visits, 607,063 page views and 68,969 unique visitors. Now in its 11th year, the WebAwards is the premier annual Web site award competition that names the best Web sites in 96 industries while setting the standard of excellence for all Web site development. Each site is judged by three of the Web Marketing Association’s expert judges on seven criteria: design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, copywriting and ease of use. The NationStaffing Shortages Slow Vets' Employment Counseling
(by Alyssa Rosenberg; GovExec.com Today -- September 14, 2007). Two years
after signing an agreement to coordinate their employment services
for disabled veterans, the Veterans Affairs and Labor departments
are still struggling to work through staffing challenges and
to share information effectively, according to a new report
from the Government Accountability Office. VA provides employment
counseling at 57 regional centers, which are staffed by federal
employees. The Labor Department, in contrast, provides grants
to state-run agencies. One goal of the agreement was to make
it easier for veterans to transfer between the assistance provided
by VA counselors and that given by state employees, and to
prevent overlap between the services. "The agreement provides
for a state workforce agency staff member to be collocated
at VA or provide itinerant coverage to VA clients, to the extent
it is appropriate and feasible," the report (GAO-07-1020)
said. "We were told that not all state workforce agencies
feel they have a sufficient number of veterans' representatives
to implement this provision." The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today released testimony: Unemployment Insurance: Receipt of Benefits Has Declined, with Continued Disparities for Low-Wage and Part-Time Workers. The overall rate of UI receipt has increased modestly from the mid-1980s to 2005, but still remains below the near-50 percent rate of the 1950s. A comparison of UI receipt by earning levels shows that low-wage workers were less likely to receive UI benefits than higher-wage workers. Moreover, the gap between the two groups has not narrowed over time. Between 1992 and 1995—the period covered in GAO’s previous analysis—low-wage workers were about half as likely to receive UI benefits as higher-wage workers. For the years 1998 and 2003—the years added for this analysis—they were about one-third as likely. Access the full GAO-07-1243T, September 19, report at: http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-1243T. For the highlights go to: http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d071243thigh.pdf. NASWA’s Workforce Bulletin Headlines - September 14, 2007:
Grant and Competitive Award Opportunities and NoticesFor current information, visit the External Grant Opportunities page.Featured Opportunity:(none) Upcoming Meetings, Conferences and
Events
Workforce Florida Board and Related Meetings Schedule:For up-to-date WFI board meeting info please check the calendar at the WFI website. October 17, 2007 November 7, 2007 November 8, 2007 Other Meetings/Conferences/Events:
September 18-21, 2007 National Kick-off Event & Career Fair for Students
with Disabilities September 24-26, 2007 September 26, 2007 October 18-19, 2007 October 25 - 26, 2007 January 22-25, 2008 May 18-20, 2008 Odds and EndsCFED Scorecard Released For States. The 2007-2008 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard is a state-level snapshot of how the country is performing in six key areas: financial security, business development, homeownership, health care, education, and tax policy and accountability. The Scorecard uses a broad array of outcome and policy measures to assess states' asset-building and asset-protection capacity. Letter grades are assigned for the outcome measures. Twelve core state policies are assessed separately and states are rated on the strength of their policies. Grades are not issued for the tax policy area since it does not include outcome measures. After analyzing 46 outcome measures across the five graded issue areas, 10 states receive overall A's: Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The Scorecard provides the most comprehensive assessment of financial security, business development, homeownership, healthcare and education assets of the states – by state, race, gender, income – available. In this context it offers a particularly strategic view of economic drivers and of the policies that can accelerate and spread asset-building and economic opportunity. Perhaps the greatest promise of the Scorecard is its specification of the kinds of policies states are using to build assets and opportunity within their borders, and for the first time, its focus on 12 critical policies which span asset classes, protection as well as accumulation, have proved their effectiveness and can grow to the scale of the challenge. The twelve include:
Report Profiles Successful Prisoner Re-Entry Programs
In Three Communities. With more than 600,000 Americans transitioning
out of prison each year, Public Private Venture’s report,
Call to Action, provides in-depth profiles of three communities
that successfully responded to the nation’s prisoner
re-entry crisis. PPV’s Ready4Work Initiative, a demonstration
funded through the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department
of Justice, and the Annie E. Casey and Ford foundations,
serves ex-felons in 11 communities, three of which are profiled
in the report—Jacksonville, Florida, Memphis, Tennessee
and Washington, D.C. In the Memphis example, the mayor partnered
with local employers and the Memphis Workforce Investment
Network to train and place workers in the region’s
high-growth industries—product distribution, warehousing,
health sciences and hospitality. Researchers attribute each
of the initiatives’ success to strong partnerships
with community based organizations, churches, local government
and employers. To learn more, review Call to Action online
at: http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/211_publication.pdf. New PRB Database Reveals State Variations in the Size and Characteristics of the Science and Engineering Labor Force in U.S. (Sept. 12, 2007)--A new database released this week by the Population Reference Bureau reveals geographic differences in the characteristics of people working in the science and engineering (S&E) labor force in the United States. The data, from the Census Bureau’s 2005 American Community Survey, highlight state differences in earnings, education, and the participation of minorities, women, and foreign-born workers in the high-tech economy. Key findings:
Quote for the Week: “
Find something in life that you love doing. If you make a
lot of Jeff Foxworthy |
