by David Ball
Staff Writer
It’s hard to say how many of the nearly 100 business professionals packed in the classroom Tuesday at Florida Community College at Jacksonville’s Downtown campus knew exactly why they were there.
The meeting notices released earlier in the week only gave hints at the topic, stating, “The Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce will launch a new education and workforce development initiative today to address the growing need for skilled workers in the targeted industries of finance, information technology and health care.”
Steven Wallace, the Chamber’s immediate past education chair and current president of FCCJ, noted the unusual nature of the meeting.
“I know you’ve all come here under mysterious circumstances,” he first addressed the crowd. “This is an important meeting for the business community and for our community at large.
“There’s an amazing cross-section of the Jacksonville business community here, and a cross-section of leaders,” continued Wallace. “This meeting represents a continuation and elevation of a long-standing commitment.”
That commitment is the Chamber’s partnership with the Duval County Public Schools Career Academies program. By the end of Tuesday’s meeting, participants were asked to contribute their time, expertise, and a little bit of money, to take that partnership to the next level.
“We think we might have found a way to engage the business community in a very meaningful way,” continued Wallace. “Our Career Academy Collaborative will begin with these three areas of finance, health care and IT.”
Career Academies is a nationwide program that uses classes within high school curricula to focus on college-prep and vocational and career-building courses in a specific area of study. In Duval County, those areas are: architecture & construction; business, management and administration; education & training; finance; health science; hospitality and tourism; information technology; marketing, sales and service; science, technology, engineering and mathematics; and transportation, distribution and logistics.
The program is aimed at directing local students who may not be planning to go to college to train for an industry certification or license and enter a career. It also gives students skills that can be applied to careers after college.
Wallace said that “human capital” is now the essential capital required for growing businesses. And while many new companies in Jacksonville import all or a portion of their workforce, there is still major interest in local workers.
“The Career Academy model is the best available strategy,” said Wallace, “to have students continue onto higher education and also to join your business as well-trained professionals.”
Business partners will be asked to create Career Academy Collaboratives with partnering high schools and higher-level institutes like FCCJ, University of North Florida or Jacksonville University.
The collaboratives will be informal, voluntary associations required to meet at least twice a year. A chair and vice-chair will be chosen, and any financial investments to the Career Academies must be certified by the chair.
Wallace said the Chamber has $300,000 in total funds to match investments made by each of the three collaboratives.
Besides investors, the business partners will also act as advisors to Career Academy administrators to provide guidance on coursework, internship opportunities and resources from their office or workplace.
“It is people intensive. It is relationship intensive. It is coordination intensive,” said Duval County Schools Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals. “You job is to connect what they’re doing in school to what they’re doing in work in order to see a great career.”
Later in the meeting, participants divided into groups representing their fields of finance, IT and health care to begin the collaborative process, set up tours of the Career Academy high schools and establish some preliminary goals.
Attorney Jake Schickel, who helped start the Career Academies program in Jacksonville about 10 years ago, said he’s seen this strategy work in other communities and help out the schools as much as the businesses.
“At this school in Ohio, the principal said, ‘Three years ago, I couldn’t guarantee your safety here. We implemented Career Academies, and we’ve gone from worst to first in disciplinary issues and suspensions,’” said Schickel.
“‘We connected them to the real world and brought in businesses to let them see the success of having a good job,’” continued Schickel. “I said, ‘this is neat.’ And I’m thrilled we’re now at this point.”
For more information on the Chamber’s Career Academies Collaboratives, call Tina Wirth, Chamber director of education and workforce development, at 366-6651.