Image courtesy SCF

Florida’s economy is expanding rapidly and exceeding economists’ estimates. Opportunities for employment abound in our region and the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, is at the forefront of providing skill training and higher education to meet new and existing demands.

We are always open to creating new partnerships that lead to economic success for our region’s citizens and businesses. As 2022 begins we are supporting individuals seeking high-wage, high-demand transportation, healthcare and IT-related jobs. 

The sight of 18-wheelers on our Bradenton Campus is certainly nontraditional for SCF, but we are thrilled to collaborate with FleetForce to ensure local business and industry partners have a skilled, ready to work pipeline of commercial truck drivers. Having FleetForce on campus allows another entry point for individuals to receive the training and certification they need to go to work. This collaboration reflects SCF’s ongoing commitment to providing workforce training that leads to meaningful career opportunities.

The importance of certifying new CDL drivers to support regional and national supply chains has never been more evident. Local labor market statistics indicate that more than 400 drivers are needed to just maintain current staffing levels in the two-county service region. 

FleetForce has already licensed 15 drivers and starts new CDL training courses weekly. Training includes a mix of classroom learning and hands-on driving instruction, making SCF’s Bradenton Campus both a viable facility for FleetForce and a central location for prospective students. For more information on the FleetForce program, go to www.FleetForcetruckdrivingschool.com.

The 26 West Center has SCF positioned to be the regional leader in preparing individuals to enter the information technology and coding fields. Now, thanks to an Open Door Grant from the state of Florida, we have more than $700,000 in financial assistance for anyone interested in starting a career as a web developer, software engineer, cyber security analyst or cloud developer, among many other IT-related specialties. 

SCF is partnering with nationally recognized Flatiron School, Cybint and the Amazon Web Services Academy to offer 24-week boot camps to prepare students to not just enter the workforce, but to begin a career. There are also shorter duration certification workshops in Python Programming, ethical hacking, and drone piloting. For more information on these and many more programs and to see how the Open Door Grant can help you go to http://coding.scf.edu.

Nursing is an area of critical need for our state and region and two local philanthropic foundations have stepped forward to allow us to grow our two-year registered nursing program. The Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation contributed $450,000 to create an evening and weekend nursing program to meet the needs of students who work during the week. To sustain the enrollment in our traditional two-year nursing program, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation provided a grant of $150,000. 

SCF is ready to expand its nursing program through these partnerships and more information about the night and weekend program should be available very soon. The program management, facilities and relationships with local hospitals for clinical opportunities are already in place. This is a turn-key opportunity to create more registered nurses for our region.

Partnerships and collaborations are critical to quickly putting programs in place to meet the immediate demand created by rapid growth. Our collaboration with FleetForce, partnerships with nationally recognized leaders in the IT industry, and our long-term relationships with our region’s philanthropic foundations demonstrate SCF’s commitment to our community’s need for high-wage, high-demand occupations. 

Dr. Carol Probstfeld is president of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.

Image courtesy SCF