Our region is growing, and the skills needed to succeed here are changing just as quickly.

In December 2025, Manatee County was among Florida's fastest-growing large counties for employment, with jobs increasing 1.9% from the previous year, while Sarasota County also posted employment growth.. Growth brings opportunity, but it also creates an important responsibility: ensuring that the people who live here have access to education that keeps pace with the economy.

At SCF, we’re continually looking ahead at what employers need and creating accessible pathways for students to develop those skills. Patricia Rand, PhD, vice president for Academic and Faculty Affairs and chief academic officer, helps lead that work by advancing faculty and curriculum development.

This fall, SCF is expanding those opportunities with a new associate in science degree in Cybersecurity Operations and three new certificates in Cybersecurity Operations Analyst, Artificial Intelligence Awareness and Graphic Design Production.

Cybersecurity is one of the clearest examples of how quickly workforce needs are evolving. Nearly every business, government agency, healthcare provider and nonprofit depends on connected technology and has information that must be protected. Nationally, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment for information security analysts to grow 29% from 2024 to 2034, much faster than the average for all occupations.

The opportunity is also visible close to home. Computer and mathematical occupations in the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota metropolitan area paid an average of $51.70 per hour in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is among the higher-paying occupational groups in our region.

SCF's new Cybersecurity Operations A.S. degree is designed to help students build practical skills in areas including network defense, threat detection, digital forensics and incident response. The program also prepares students for industry certifications that can strengthen their credentials as they enter or advance in the technology workforce. Jason D. Reed, associate professor and Technology chair at SCF, will lead the Cybersecurity Operations degree as well as the Cybersecurity Operations Analyst Certificate.

Artificial intelligence is creating a different kind of workforce shift. AI is increasingly being incorporated into businesses and professions far beyond the technology sector. The World Economic Forum identifies AI and big data as the fastest-growing skill area through 2030, followed closely by networks and cybersecurity. Understanding how these technologies work and how to use them responsibly will increasingly be valuable across occupations.

SCF's new Artificial Intelligence (AI) Awareness Certificate gives students an opportunity to develop that knowledge as AI becomes part of the everyday workplace. Susan Melichar, assistant professor of Computer Science at SCF, will lead the new certificate.

Yet technology skills alone will not define the workforce of the future. The ability to communicate, think creatively and translate ideas into compelling visual messages remains valuable in nearly every industry.

SCF's new Graphic Design Production Certificate was created with that versatility in mind. Students develop skills in visual communication, typography and design while gaining hands-on experience with industry-standard tools including Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. Those skills can be applied in business, marketing, education, media, nonprofit work, social media and entrepreneurship.

Charles Jeff Darwin, Graphic Design program manager at SCF, will lead the Graphic Design Production Certificate. For students exploring their options, the certificate can provide a resume-ready credential while completing an associate degree, and its courses can apply toward SCF's Graphic Design degree for students who choose to continue in the field. 

That flexibility is important because today's students are not all following the same path. Some are preparing for their first careers. Others are working adults looking to gain a new skill, earn a credential or move into a growing field.

For our region to remain economically competitive, we need more than new jobs. We need local people prepared to fill them.

That is why these new programs matter. Cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and graphic design may seem like very different disciplines, but they reflect the same commitment: giving our community access to relevant education that responds to a changing economy.

When our residents can develop tomorrow's skills close to home, our students benefit, our employers benefit and our entire region is better positioned for what comes next.

Community foundations are often measured by grants made and dollars distributed. At Gulf Coast Community Foundation (Gulf Coast), that work matters, and it's the foundation for everything else we do. But grantmaking alone doesn't define what makes a community foundation valuable to the region it serves. What does is Community Leadership, the model Gulf Coast operates under to listen closely to what a region needs, convene the people who can act on it, and stay in the work as a civic problem-solver until real progress is made. That is the role Gulf Coast plays, and it's the reason our work reaches further than any single grant ever could.

You can see that role in action across the region. The Sarasota Housing Action Plan brought together fellow funders, local governments, developers and nonprofits around a shared strategy for affordable housing. The Water Quality Playbook did the same for one of our region's most pressing environmental concerns, turning research into a clear roadmap for protecting our waterways, one that other communities are now looking to as a model. Our Community Leadership staff participate in regional work groups in an effort to give voice to local perspectives while creating solutions fit for our community needs. This includes HUD’s Continuum of Care that addresses homelessness response and PLANIt Sarasota to expand higher education access. Each challenge calls for a different answer, but they are all shaped by the same approach: listen first, then convene, catalyze, and act.

That instinct to listen first isn't limited to moments of crisis or opportunity. It's built into how Gulf Coast operates every day, most visibly through our recent Regional Scan. Now in its 8th iteration since 2009, the 2025 Regional Scan was the largest community listening effort in Gulf Coast's 30-year history, hearing from more than 1,500 residents across Sarasota, Charlotte, and DeSoto counties, a 700 percent increase in participation from 2023. Three priorities emerged clearly: Attainable Housing, Environmental Resilience, and Helping People Through Times of Crisis.

Recent Grantee and Donor Perception surveys gave our nonprofit partners and donors a direct channel to tell us what's working and where we can do better. That input shapes where we focus our resources, our partnerships, and our expertise. That's the thinking behind Impact NOW!, our ongoing partnership with the Elsa and Peter Soderberg Charitable Foundation that's expanding our reach in Charlotte and DeSoto counties. A core part of Impact NOW!’s vision is ensuring local voices have a seat at the table, with a community member serving on each grantmaking committee to bring that perspective into conversations about how to best support Charlotte and DeSoto County.

Together with our donors, Gulf Coast currently has two active community matches supporting transformational projects in our region: the final phase of The Bay Park, and the rewilding of the Quad Parcels with Big Waters Land Trust. All gifts made to support these projects will be doubled dollar for dollar, but a match only creates impact when our neighbors decide to give.

The Regional Scan revealed something else about this region: more than 65 percent of respondents prioritized issues that don't directly affect their own households. That same spirit extends to how residents engage at the ballot box. This November, Florida voters will decide on Amendment 3, the Property Tax ballot measure. Gulf Coast is not taking a position for or against the issue. Our goal is a simple one: to make sure every voter has the clear, accurate information they need to make their own informed decision. In the coming weeks, you’ll see voter education content on our social media feeds, on our website, and in our weekly e-mails. It's one more way we're showing up for the region, the same way we do through our support of nonpartisan civic organizations and Suncoast Searchlight, whose investigative reporting helps keep our region informed and accountable.

A community doesn't move forward because of any one grant, plan, or program. It moves when the people closest to a problem have a partner willing to stay in the work as a civic problem-solver, even when the answers aren't simple. Gulf Coast's Community Leadership model is meant to serve this region not just today, but for generations to come. Listening with intention, asking better questions, and finding ways to turn what we learn into action – that's the job, today and every day ahead.

Phillip P. Lanham is President | CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation. 

Pictured: The Community Leadership model is about listening to our region, working together around shared priorities and making informed choices about the issues that shape our communities. Provided photo.

Local government works best in the open and transparent, and most of the time, it is. Agendas get posted and backup materials go out before a vote. Residents get a chance to speak throughout the process and before decisions become final.

But this year in Sarasota County, that process has broken down in ways that should concern every resident.

That is why the Argus Foundation launched the Sunshine Accountability Alert, a public awareness campaign. It looks back at a public meeting and tells residents when a commissioner, manager, administrator, or government attorney raised a matter of real policy significance without putting it on the published agenda, without appropriate backup materials, or without public comment before a vote as required by Florida law. Each alert will name who raised the item, who made the motion, who seconded it, and how the vote went.

This is not about routine business. A pothole repair or a future workshop needs no advance notice or backup documents. Decisions that change how the public's business gets done, and how public money is spent, do.

The Alert started because of exactly this kind of decision. In August, commissioners voted, with no advance notice on the agenda, to re-negotiate the County Administrator's and County Attorney's contracts, stripping their annual performance review and replacing it with an automatic raise tied to state pay formulas meant for elected commissioners. Residents had no idea until after the vote had passed.

Once the Argus Foundation alerted the public, residents took notice, and finalizing those contract changes has, at least for now, paused. That is what public awareness can do.

Two more examples show the same pattern. On Live Local Act compliance, commissioners discussed and voted at a public meeting, but the item was never on the noticed agenda, no backup materials were provided, and the public had no chance to comment before the vote. That decision has since drawn legal challenge and public criticism.

In February, commissioners discussed and voted, at a public meeting, to remove proposed charter amendments on the county's authority to borrow in an emergency and refinance to save money. Again, the item was not on the noticed agenda, no backup materials were provided, and the public had no chance to comment before the vote.

None of these are small matters. They touch on who runs the county, whether the law gets followed, and how government can borrow against taxpayers in a crisis.

As a business leader, I understand the instinct to move quickly and skip process. But there is a real difference between efficiency and exclusion. When decisions like these are made without notice, documentation, or the public comment the law requires, that is not efficiency.

That is what the Sunshine Accountability Alert is for, and it only works if people are watching and speak out against this lack of transparency. While we sincerely hope that we do not have to issue any more of these alerts, follow the Argus Foundation on Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn so you don't miss one if it has to be issued.

Christine Robinson is the Chief Executive Officer of The Argus Foundation. 

September is Hunger Action Month, a time to recognize that hunger is a community issue – and that every one of us has a role to play in addressing it. This year’s theme, “Play Your Part,” is a reminder that meaningful change happens when we each do what we can to help our neighbors.

Here in Sarasota and DeSoto counties, we know hunger affects people from all walks of life. A family may be doing everything they can to make ends meet but when the cost of groceries, housing, insurance, utilities, gas and other necessities continues to rise, there often isn’t enough left in the budget to get by.

Changes to government assistance programs, including SNAP and Medicaid, are also impacting people who depend on these resources to help cover basic needs. For many households, losing or receiving less assistance can make an already difficult situation even harder.

More than 83,000 neighbors turned to All Faiths Food Bank for help in 2025. But an estimated 137,000 additional people in our community are at risk of hunger. That’s a total of 220,000 neighbors each year who may not know where their next meal is coming from.

We simply cannot reach everyone who needs help without the support of our community. That’s why Hunger Action Month is about more than raising awareness – it’s an invitation to play your part.

One way to help is by giving. Financial donations give us the flexibility to purchase the food our neighbors need most and respond as circumstances change. In 2025, All Faiths Food Bank and our partners provided nearly 18.7 million meals, including more than 5.8 million pounds of fresh produce. As food and other operating costs increase, community support is essential to making that impact possible.

You can also play your part by volunteering. Last year, 3,200 “Hunger Heroes” contributed more than 59,000 hours to help our neighbors. They sorted and packed food, worked at mobile distributions, supported nutrition education and cooking classes, helped at events and contributed in countless other ways. Every hour makes a difference.

And you can play your part simply by speaking up. Talk with your family, friends and colleagues about hunger in our community. Share information about food resources with someone who may need them, and help others understand food insecurity is not always visible and that asking for help should never be a source of shame.

Hunger is a challenge we can address together. When neighbors care for neighbors, we strengthen not only the people who need a helping hand today, but the entire community we share.

This Hunger Action Month, I hope you’ll find a way to play your part.

To donate or learn more about getting involved with All Faiths Food Bank, visit allfaithsfoodbank.org.

Nelle S. Miller is the President and CEO of All Faiths Food Bank.