Tampa Bay Partnership Scores $540K Grant To Study Future Jobs
TAMPA - Looking to answer questions such as “Where will the jobs of the future come from?”, the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council and the Tampa Bay Partnership were recently awarded a $540,100 grant by the Economic Development Administration to administer a targeted industry cluster study and a workforce skills gap study.
These studies will assist economic development organizations and workforce boards in developing the action steps needed for sustainable job creation. The studies will include implementation components to focus economic development and workforce resources to help the region create, attract and retain a higher skilled, better trained, more competitive, and innovative workforce.
“To succeed in an ever more competitive global marketplace, Tampa Bay must work together to identify and target the industries and workforce of the future,” said Stuart Rogel, President and CEO of the Tampa Bay Partnership. “This grant will allow us to get the communities of Tampa Bay focused on the growth industries with good jobs to build the new economy for Tampa Bay.”
“The study will help us determine the skill sets needed for the jobs of the next decade, not the jobs of the past,” said Manny Pumariega, Executive Director of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council.
SRI International has been selected to conduct the majority of the study. SRI’s Center for Science, Technology and Economic Development will bring together the communities to determine the region’s future value-added industries and the appropriate workforce skills necessary to sustain these industries. Tampa Bay will have a plan of action which identifies industries to nurture as well as which workforce skills to develop and teach.
The workforce skills study will analyze the regional workforce’s skills, abilities, and educational attainment and potential.
The project will expand upon the data analysis, workforce skills correlation, and future clusters indemnification performed in the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council’s regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy and assist in implementation of the Tampa Bay Partnership’s Blueprint for Prosperity.
Along with the EDA funding, financial partnership commitments have been attained from the Suncoast Workforce Alliance, City of Clearwater, Manatee County Economic Development Council, Pinellas County, WorkNet Pinellas, Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance, Pasco County Economic Development Council, and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council.
