WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA Program Injects Nearly $1.2 Million Into Local Economy

Sept. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA (WCF) is wrapping up its third annual Summer Job Connection, an employment program that provided summer work experience in local jobs for 754 young adults ages 16-21 and 144,204 hours of work for 212 local employers, while injecting more than $1,195,164 into the local economy.  

“The Summer Job Connection impacts the Central Florida region both short and long term,” said Gary Earl, WCF president and chief executive officer.  “Short term, this program helps increase local spending and allows employers to increase productivity in a time they can’t afford to hire workers.  Long term, the program develops an educated workforce, something that is important to recruit new businesses to the region.”

The young adults earned $8.25 an hour or an average of $278 per week and worked 35 hours a week for six or 12 weeks with employers from Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Sumter counties.  Participants were placed in employment opportunities with nonprofits, government agencies and targeted private sector employers.  Opportunities provided high quality work experiences in areas such as marketing, engineering and administration.

In addition to work experience, each intern was taught extensive work readiness skills such as how to develop a resume, interview and budget, through several tactics, such as four Youth Summits held throughout the region.  Each full-day event offered the young adults training in these skills and concluded with a job fair where employers interviewed interested candidates in a speed-dating approach. Through this method, interns gained interviewing experience in a job fair atmosphere, and employers were in control of their candidate selections.

“Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Florida is a proud partner of the WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA Summer Job Connection,” said Britt Henderson, service director for the West Sanford Boys and Girls Club.  “The Summer Job Connection program gives the kids the opportunity to experience and go through the things that I go through in daily operations, and it helps them enhance their lives and see exactly the type of work that I do so maybe one day they will come back and run a Boys and Girls Club or a major corporation.”

For an overview of this summer’s program, watch a video documentary created by Summer Job Connection interns at http://www.WorkforceCentralFlorida.com/job-seeker/job-see....

A similar internship program, the Re-Employment Connection, is currently available to provide employability skills and work experience for adults, ages 18 and up.  Participants make $12 per hour and work up to 40 hours per week for 26 weeks.  For more information, visit http://www.WorkforceCentralFlorida.com/job-seeker/job-see....

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WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA is the Orlando area's workforce expert, an authority on workforce planning, programs and the labor market for the Florida counties of Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Sumter counties.