Community Affairs
Education / Workforce
The Chamber is dedicated to a strong public school system to educate its children and develop skills for its future workforce. The Chamber’s workforce initiatives are focused to align public education through its career academy programs with the Chamber’s economic development goals. Career Academies are designed to offer hands-on experience and training related to various careers and professions. The academies are designed to work with students to attain industry certifications upon high school graduation, and most often include strong business partnerships.
For more information, contact Natalie Prim at 850.438.4081 ext. 235.
Workforce Conference 2009
On August 7, 2009, the Chamber hosted its Third Annual Workforce Conference "Nurturing Innovative Talent". Below is a link to the website where you can find copies of the presentations and photos of the day's events. For more information on the conference, please contact Mallory Wilson or call 850.438.4081.
Ford Motor Company Fund "Next Generation Learning Community" Program
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Ford Motor Company Fund selected Northwest Florida (Escambia County and Santa Rosa County) as a Next Generation Learning Community due to its alignment between business, industry and education and because of its efforts to create a "dual county" career academy system based on economic development targets. In August 2007, Escambia and Santa Rosa School Districts were one of only six areas in the United States designated as a “Prospective Level Career Academy Innovation Community” by Ford Motor Company Fund. The next designation is Leadership Level which was awarded on January 27, 2009.The Northwest Florida Next Generation Learning Community recently hosted a training workshop (Ford PAS) for interested teachers in both Escambia and Santa Rosa County and completed a Master Plan for career academy development and expansion. The partners for this initiative include:
Workforce Talent Development, Activities & Information:
http://career.escambia.k12.fl.us/video/NGLC200910/index.asp
Ford Motor Company's Annual Report (PDF page 21)
Learning Skills, October 2009
Career Academies Work October 2009
Education/Career Academy Resources: (Click here for Business Partnership Form)
- Escambia County School District’s Workforce Education Department offers 35 academies including pre-engineering, law, health science, game simulation and animation programming, teaching, fire-rescue, e-commerce, design services, culinary arts, Cox Telecommunications, aerospace, agri-science, and Gulf Power Academy. For more information, contact Escambia County School District Workforce Education Director, Carl Leiterman at 850.469.5356.
- Escambia County On-line Career Academy Student Application: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/career_academy_application
- Santa Rosa School District’s Workforce Education department established the Building Construction Academy in the 20087-2009 school year. Locklin Tech was the recipient of a WIRED grant from Florida’s Great Northwest, which is part of President Bush’s Competitiveness Agenda, for their Building Construction Academy. For more information contact Raymond Rogers at 850.983.5058.
- The Chamber has a long-standing partnership with West Florida High School of Advanced Technology (WFHS). From its early inception to the day it opened its doors in 2001, the business community has focused its efforts on this “wall to wall” small learning community for excellence! West Florida Tech has achieved an unprecedented “A” State school grade for the past three years! The Academies at West Florida include Aerospace, Cox Telecommunications, Gulf Power Academy, Automotive, Engineering, Professional Services, Health and Human Services and more.
- The Chamber has also supported WFHS’s Advanced Career Experience program (“ACE”). ACE is an opportunity for business to hire eager seniors who have received two years of training in their Career Academies and are ready to work! Businesses are able to employ and/or sponsor training for these highly trained seniors upon a request to the school and finding the best senior for their business. Businesses may offer paid or unpaid positions. For more information, contact Lori Anderson at 850.941.6200 ext. 2188.