Workforce Florida

Workforce Florida Weekly Update 11-28-07

CONTENTS
The State & Regions
The Nation
Grant and Competitive Award Opportunities
Upcoming Meetings, Conferences & Events
Odds & Ends

The State & Regions

USDA Designates 58 Florida Counties As Primary Natural Disaster Areas - Decision Allows Farmers and Ranchers to Apply for USDA Assistance. WASHINGTON, Nov. 27, 2007 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture designated 58 Florida counties this week as primary natural disaster areas because of losses caused by drought that occurred on Jan. 1, 2007, and continuing. Farm operators in counties that are contiguous to counties designated as primary natural disaster areas also qualify for natural disaster benefits. In addition, farm operators in the contiguous counties in the adjacent states of Alabama and Georgia also qualify for natural disaster benefits. Qualified farm operators in the designated areas are eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the EM loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity. USDA has also made other programs available to assist farmers and ranchers, including the Emergency Conservation Program, Federal Crop Insurance and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. Interested farmers may contact their local USDA Service Centers for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs. Additional information is also available online at: http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.

Governor Crist Focuses on Florida’s Economy, Joins Unveiling of Plans for Tampa Bay Rays Ballpark. ST. PETERSBURG – Governor Charlie Crist today continued his focus on strengthening Florida’s economy by joining Tampa Bay Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg as he announced plans to construct a new ballpark on the St. Petersburg waterfront. Earlier in the day, the Governor met with business leaders and corporate executives to discuss economic development opportunities in the Tampa Bay area and throughout the state. “As a major part of Florida’s economy, the sports industry pumps billions of dollars into our state and provides thousands of jobs for Floridians,” Governor Crist said. “I commend the Tampa Bay Rays organization for designing a ballpark that will complement the community’s beautiful waterfront and also be environmentally friendly.” While meeting with business leaders, Governor Crist listened to their ideas about ways Florida can attract new businesses to the Sunshine State while also strengthening business opportunities for Florida companies. Strategies discussed included reducing property taxes, strengthening Florida’s colleges and universities and ensuring that all students have access to affordable higher education. According to the Governor’s Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development, Florida’s sports industry has doubled since 1999, representing $32 billion in economic impact and employing more than 400,000 Floridians. Major League Baseball’s contribution includes two professional sports franchises as well as spring training programs. Florida is home to more Major League Baseball spring training programs than any other state, with 18 of the 30 clubs training at 17 Florida locations and attracting more than 1.5 million attendees each year. www.myflorida.com.

The Century Commission to meet December 2-13 in Orlando. Florida's population continues to grow…how will we address the impacts of that growth? How will we deal with an aging population, with more cars on the roads and more requests for drinking water? How will we recover from major storm events, or devastating natural calamities affecting agriculture, or address increased public education needs? The Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida was established by the Florida Legislature in 2005 to answer these kinds of questions. It is comprised of 15 members, with 5 each appointed by the Governor, the Speaker of the Florida House and the President of the Florida Senate. The Governor appoints the Chair, and Governor Bush appointed St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker as the Commission's first Chair. By law, the Century Commission must:

Annually envision the future for the state
Continually consider laws and regulations and make recommendations as to how we can best accommodate population growth while maintaining our "quality of life,"
Serve as a repository for our best "community-building" ideas and as a resource for all Floridians, and
Beginning in 2007, provide a written report to the Legislature and Governor addressing specific growth management issues.

The Century Commission must be thoughtful in its analysis and bold in its recommendations. To be successful, the Century Commission needs to hear what Floridians have to say. Fill out the survey provided on this website at http://www.centurycommission.org/home.asp or contact us at (850) 488-8453, or contact the Executive Director, Steve Seibert, at steve.seibert@centurycommission.org for further information.

City of Coral Springs, Florida, One of Five U.S. Organizations to Receive Presidential Award for Excellence. Newswise — On November 20, President George W. Bush and Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez named five organizations as the recipients of the 2007 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest Presidential honor for organizational performance excellence. This year the awardees included nonprofit organizations for the first time. The 2007 Baldrige Award recipients—listed with their category—include:

PRO-TEC Coating Co., Leipsic, Ohio (small business)
Mercy Health System, Janesville, Wisc. (health care)
Sharp HealthCare, San Diego, Calif. (health care)
City of Coral Springs, Coral Springs, Fla. (nonprofit)
U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC), Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. (nonprofit)

The Baldrige Award promotes excellence in organizational performance, recognizes the achievements and results of U.S. organizations, and publicizes successful performance strategies. The award is not given for specific products or services. Since 1988, 72 organizations have received Baldrige Awards.
The 2007 honorees were selected from a field of 84 applicants. All of the applicants were evaluated rigorously by an independent board of examiners in seven areas: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce focus; process management; and results. The evaluation process for the 2007 recipients included about 1,000 hours of review and an on-site visit by teams of examiners to clarify questions and verify information in the applications. The newest Baldrige recipients are expected to be presented with their awards in a ceremony in Washington, D.C., early next year.The Baldrige National Quality Program is managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in conjunction with the private sector.
For details, and links to images, see “Presidential Award for Excellence Honors Five U.S. Organization s” at http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/2007baldrigerecipients.htm. For more information on the Baldrige Program, see http://www.quality.nist.gov. © 2007 Newswise. All Rights Reserved.

The Able Trust Seeking 50 Florida Students With Disabilities To Attend 2008 Florida Youth Leadership Forum In Tallahassee. Tallahassee - The Able Trust is currently accepting applications for the 9TH annual Florida Youth Leadership Forum (YLF), a prestigious leadership conference for high school students with disabilities. The event will take place July 24-27, 2008 in Tallahassee. The deadline to apply for the 2008 YLF is Friday, December 7, 2007. Each year, The Able Trust selects 50 young people with wide-ranging disabilities to spend four days learning about self-advocacy and leadership skills to live independently after high school. The goal of the forum is to give high school students with disabilities the resources and encouragement needed so that they may reach their full potential in all aspects of their life. Students selected as delegates to attend YLF will receive free travel to Tallahassee, lodging and meals. The event is co-sponsored by The Able Trust and the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council. The forum also offers students the opportunity to interface with government dignitaries, YLF alumni, professionals from diverse career backgrounds and community leaders with disabilities. The YLF is held at Florida State University’s Southgate Campus Centre dormitory. Here, students will participate in interactive workshops focused on team building, career development, community and individual leadership, disability history and self advocacy. They also participate in social activities to build their self-esteem, make new friends and have fun. “This is a unique opportunity for students with disabilities to learn the skills they need and the resources available to them to achieve their goals after graduation,” said Kristen Knapp, vice president of public relations for The Able Trust. The Florida Youth Leadership Forum is part of a national initiative that was started in 1992 by the California Governor's Alliance for the Employment of Disabled Citizens. Today, over 30 states replicate the YLF in an effort to develop a national network of young adults with disabilities. Current high school sophomores and juniors with disabilities are encouraged to submit an application to participate as student delegates. Applicants should demonstrate the ability to work well with others, adapt to new surroundings and follow an intense schedule. Selected delegates will also represent a diverse mix of disabilities, gender, geographic location and ethnicities. For more information, visit www.floridaylf.org or contact Alana Hill at Alana@abletrust.org or 1-888-838-2253.

The Nation

HUD to Take Over Rental Assistance from FEMA on December 1. On December 1, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will assume control of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) rental program for nearly 30,000 of the residents affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. HUD is working closely with approximately 375 PHAs and 12,000 landlords who will be implementing and managing the temporary rental assistance under the new Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP). Eligible families still needing help should contact HUD immediately. Starting March 1, 2008, the level of rental assistance will reduce gradually to help participants move to independence. While still receiving supportive services, program participants will pay a small portion of the housing cost, which will begin at $50 per month in March and incrementally increase each month thereafter until the program concludes on March 1, 2009. Seniors and the disabled whose primary source of income is Supplemental Security Income or other fixed income that make them eligible to receive assistance under existing HUD programs will still receive those benefits. Access the complete press release at: http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr07-171.cfm.

IRS Announces 2008 Standard Mileage Rates; Rate for Business Miles Set at 50.5 Cents per Mile. WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service this week issued the 2008 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes. Beginning Jan. 1, 2008, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (including vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

50.5 cents per mile for business miles driven;
19 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes; and
14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations.

The new rate for business miles compares to a rate of 48.5 cents per mile for 2007. The new rate for medical and moving purposes compares to 20 cents in 2007. The rate for miles driven in service of charitable organizations has remained the same. The standard mileage rate for business is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile; the standard rate for medical and moving purposes is based on the variable costs as determined by the same study. Runzheimer International, an independent contractor, conducted the study for the IRS. The mileage rate for charitable miles is set by law. A taxpayer may not use the business standard mileage rate for a vehicle after using any depreciation method under the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS), after claiming a Section 179 deduction for that vehicle, for any vehicle used for hire or for more than four vehicles used simultaneously. Revenue Procedure 2007-70 contains additional information on these standard mileage rates. www.irs.gov.

Grant and Competitive Award Opportunities and Notices

For current information, visit the External Grant Opportunities page.

Featured Opportunity:

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.

December 19, 2007
Executive Committee Meeting of the WFI Board of Directors
9:00am – 10:00am
Teleconference Call
Contact: Peggy Dransfield pdransfield@workforceflorida.com

Other Meetings/Conferences/Events:

November 30, 2007
Promising Practices Webinar: A Look at Jobs Corps and YouthBuild
1:00pm Eastern (12:00pm/Central, 11:00am/Mountain, 10:00am/Pacific) Length: 90 minutes
NEW! Login to Workforce3 One and at:
http://www.workforce3one.org/public/webinars/details.cfm?id=255

Dec. 1-4, 2007
National Workforce Association (NWA) & the 110th Congress - 2007 6th Annual Conference
Maintaining America’s Competitive Edge
St. Petersburg, FL
http://www.nwaonline.org/conference.asp

Jan. 15-18, 2008
2008 Effective Strategies Institute
Daytona Beach
Sponsored by the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network (NDPC), the Florida Department of Education, 21st Century Community Learning Centers of Florida, the University of Florida, Communities in Schools of Florida, Inc., and the Florida Association of Alternative School Educators.
http://www.dropoutprevention.org/conferen/conferen.htm#2008_EFI

January 22-25, 2008
FETC 2008—The K-12 Technology Conference
Orange County Convention Center, Orlando
http://www.fetc.org/

March 18-20, 2008
Interstate Renewable Energy Council’s 2nd National Conference on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Workforce Education
Hudson Valley Community College
Albany, New York
For more information, please contact Jane Weissman at IREC at jane@irecusa.org or weissmanpv@aol.com or 781-461-8167.

May 18-20, 2008
FEDC/WFI/FWDA Workforce Summit
SAVE THE DATE!
(Location TBD)
More information will be posted to www.fedc.net in the near future…

July 15-17, 2008
Workforce Innovations 2008
New Orleans, LA
www.WorkforceInnovations.org

Odds and Ends

The Dirty Energy Solution (By Bill McKibben, Orion Magazine Posted on November 27, 2007, Printed on November 27, 2007). From his desk in an office in Chicago, Jeff Smith has a bird's-eye view of the American landscape. Combing through a huge database of information compiled by the EPA, he can, almost literally, peer down every smokestack in the nation and figure out what's going on inside. And what he sees is heat. Waste heat -- one of the country's largest potential sources of power, pouring up out of those smokestacks. If it could be recycled into electricity, that heat would generate immense amounts of power without our having to burn any new fossil fuels. By immense, I mean, speaking technically, humongous. Even after he's winnowed the nation's half a million smokestacks down to the most likely customers, that leaves twenty-five thousand stacks. "An astronomical number," Smith says. His boss at Recycled Energy Development, Sean Casten, leafs through the reams of data Smith has compiled. The biggest sources of waste heat are some gas turbines used to generate power, but there are endless other examples. "Let's look at Florida," he says. "Here's a Maxwell House coffee roaster in Duval County. They're roasting beans, so all that heat has to go somewhere. About twelve megawatts' worth of potential electricity is going up the stack." Casten could take the equipment he sells, a "waste-heat recovery boiler," and stick it on top of the stack. "Basically, there's a network of tubes with water in them. The heat would hit one side of it, produce steam, and we'd use that to turn a turbine and generate electricity. It's like any other boiler, just without a flame, because the heat is already there." Does that sound suspiciously pie-in-the-sky? Casten can drive a few miles from his Chicago office to an East Chicago plant run by Mittal Steel. A few years ago, a predecessor energy-recycling company installed this kind of equipment on the smokestacks of the plant's coke ovens. In 2004, this single steel plant generated roughly the same amount of clean energy as was produced by all of the grid-connected solar collectors throughout the world. Read the complete article at: http://www.alternet.org/story/67145/. Bill McKibben is the author of 10 books, most recently Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. He is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College in Vermont. © 2007 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.

From SOUTHERN COMPASS - NOVEMBER 27, 2007:

Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Industry Booming With New Jobs & Growing Revenue. What industry generated nearly a trillion dollars in sales, 8.5 million new jobs, and more than $100 billion in industry profits in 2006? According to a recent report by the American Solar Energy Society, it was the Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency industry. The report defines the RE&EE industry broadly and includes all aspects of the industry including the direct and indirect jobs created. With this definition, the renewable energy sector contributed 452,000 jobs and the energy efficiency sector contributed more than 8 million direct and indirect jobs. When looking at direct jobs only, the renewable energy sector provided 196,000 jobs and the energy efficiency sector 3.5 million jobs. The report also forecasts the growth in the RE&EE industry if 15 percent of U.S. energy supply came from renewable energy in 2030. In this scenario, the industry would have more than $2.3 trillion in revenues and have created more than 20 million jobs. To review the full report go to http://www.ases.org/ASES-JobsReport-Final.pdf.
New Paper Examines The Interdependence Of Rural & Urban America. A new background paper from The Brookings Institution looks at connectedness and interdependence between metropolitan and rural America. The paper identifies rural contributions to metropolitan prosperity (such as food, energy, workforce, stewardship and waste management), as well as metropolitan contributions to rural prosperity (such as markets, jobs and specialized services. Download Rural-Urban Interdependence: Why Metropolitan and Rural America Need Each Other, at http://www.rupri.org/Forms/Dabson_Brookings.pdf.

New York Times Article: Decline of the Tenure Track Raises Concerns. Professors with tenure or who are on a tenure track are now a distinct minority on the country’s campuses, as part-time instructors and professors hired on a contract account for nearly 70% of professors at colleges and universities. The shift from a tenured faculty results from financial pressures; administrators’ desire for more flexibility in hiring, firing, and changing course offerings; and the growth of community colleges and regional public universities focused on teaching basics and preparing students for jobs. It has become so extreme, however, that some universities are pulling back, concerned about the effect on educational quality. Adjuncts are less likely to have doctoral degrees. They also have less time to meet with students, and research suggests that students who take many courses with them are somewhat less likely to graduate. Many state university presidents say tight budgets have made it inevitable that they turn to adjuncts to save money. Access this article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/education/20adjunct.html?pagewanted=
1&_r=1&ei=5087&em&en=316368f3e3e57c0f&ex=1195621200.

Dropout Prevention. A report from the National High School Center outlines steps that schools can take to identify at-risk students and provide the necessary support systems and relevant interventions to assist them in obtaining a high school diploma. The report discusses the use of early warning data systems to target interventions for groups and individual students, offers a variety of best practice approaches undertaken by higher-performing high schools and presents effective programs that are currently being implemented to stem the dropout problem. Access the full report at:
http://www.betterhighschools.com/docs/NHSC_ApproachestoDropoutPrevention.pdf.

8th annual Celebration of Reading – Celebrating and Families and Reading. Volunteer USA Foundation is proud to announce the 8th annual Celebration of Reading event, an effort to support family literacy programs in Florida, and new this year, training for parents in the south-east United States to help their children become better readers. The event will take place on February 15, 2008 in Bonita Springs. Visit www.CelebrationofReading.org to learn more about this year's Celebration of Reading event.

Quote for the Week:

"Economic growth and power are the means, not the definition, of a great nation."

Jim Collins