WHAT ARE EMPLOY FLORIDA BANNER CENTERS AND WHERE DID THE CONCEPT ORIGINATE?

The concept was born in the 2004-2009 Roadmap to Florida’s Future and is still a top-notch talent component of the latest economic development for the state of Florida known as the 2007-2010 Plan. With developing workforce talent in Florida being a top priority, Workforce Florida Inc. responded by creating Employ Florida Banner Centers. Going off of information provided by the Roadmap, these centers which are referred to as Workforce Education Cluster Centers, have guiding principles of:

1. Become an intersection for business and education for Florida’s target industry sectors.
2. Improve upon the current industry knowledge as the statewide nexus related to the workforce needs of a targeted industry.
3. Be able to train a globally competitive workforce by creating industry driven workforce development products and services.
4. Support the development needs within the pipeline on all levels from entry to advanced workers.
5. Develop and deliver workforce development products, services, training, and access to certifications that are valued by industry.
6. Expand upon delivery through partnerships with industry and other educational facilities throughout the state and also focus secondary and postsecondary on public and private.
7. Support and help promote economic development in a targeted industry throughout the entire state.
8. Maximize the value of products and services developed in order to create income and revenue streams.
9. Create a business model showing how to become a self-sustaining business entity inside of five years.

Because these centers were designed to serve as the leading resource and focal point to tackle the state’s economic importance of increasing capacity in high-skill, high wage targeted sectors; they were given the name “Banner Centers.”

WHO IS INVOLVED AND WHAT DO THEY DO?

There are currently 12 Banner Centers that are linked to different educational centers in the state. Each Banner Center is linked to a Florida community college or university which uses current infrastructure as a home base, designed to become new industry focus units within the college. A key objective is to create timely and relevant training that can be shared across multiple educational institutions for access by businesses in other areas of the state, reducing duplication. This way one college can start the program without having to do so from scratch.

The first Banner Center opened in 2006 and these centers are designed to serve as a statewide, go-to resource for cutting-edge training for entry-level and experienced workers who need to upgrade their skills in high-value sectors. Some of the many sectors covered include biotechnology, aviation/aerospace, health sciences, logistics and distribution, construction, energy, alternative energy, digital media and manufacturing.

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF BANNER CENTERS FOR FLORIDA BUSINESS?

According to labor market statistics, the workforce of 2020 will still have 70 percent of the current workforce working. It is this fact that shows the need for these centers where skills can be learned and upgraded. Banner Centers are taking a whole new approach to this problem by having workforce, education, and industry all working together through postsecondary institutions to address the critical need of training, both immediate and ongoing.

Workforce Florida has already invested $8.8 million in state general revenue and Federal Workforce Investment Act. Additionally, $8 million has been leveraged through education and industry partnerships.

Using key industry and educational partners in the agricultural industry to help lift the state of the agriculture economy of Florida is the main goal of the Employ Florida Banner Center for Argiscience. Located at the Florida Farm Bureau in Gainesville, the center aims to fill the talent pipeline with a multitude of individuals all receiving the proper training to enter Argiscience areas such as farm work, animal science and much more. The center will work hand in hand with some of the biggest names in the agriculture industry to ensure that Florida’s talent pool of agriculture never runs dry.

Employ Florida Banner Center for Alternative Energy is a conglomerate of universities, community colleges, technical institutions, workforce agencies, and industries that provide training across the state of Florida in the field of alternative energy such as photovoltalics and solar water heating. The center strives to support and train those in the alternative energy workplace as well as the students training to go into the industry.

The Aerospace Resource Center or ARC for short, for the state of Florida has chartered Florida Community College at Jacksonville and Brevard Community College and is designed to be an all-in-one center for those in the aviation and space workforce. ARC will focus its efforts on making sure all those in these fields will be able to gain all the industry requirements both current and future.

ARC’s purpose is to develop a system to run statewide keying in on industry requirements. ARC will focus its efforts towards those companies in the state that are involved in wither aviation or space as well as those that are considering moving to the state.

The Center of Excellence for Regenerative Health Biotechnology or CERHB for short is chartered through the University of Florida and its partners and its mission is to assist in the production of qualified workers at every stage in the biotechnology field. CERHB plans on doing so by maximizing lifelong learning settings that are crucial to the field of biotechnology. Through its advanced levels of training in the biotechnology field, CERHB hopes to better promote the economic development in the biotechnology industry.

The Employ Florida Banner Center for Career Academics goal is to ensure that education, industry, workforce, and economic development partners, in every community, are working in conjunction with one another to create new, significant opportunities to prepare students for the high-skill, high-wage jobs that exist in the workforce today as well as those opportunities that may exist in the future. The center differs to some degree from the other Banner Centers in it doesn’t focus on mealy one sector, but rather a broad spectrum of sectors. The center is administered by Florida State University and also serves as an important resource for many state policy makers.

The Employ Banner Center for Construction or BCC is a conglomerate the best in the construction industry all banding together to provide training and career advancement solutions for those in the construction workforce in the state of Florida. These industry, educational, and workforce partners will work together to ensure that the growing Florida industry of construction will always be filled with quality trained workers. By doing so, BCC hopes to help increase the career advancement of the construction industry workers and reduce the expenses of recruitment and training for the construction industry employers.

Employ Florida banner Center for Energy which was originally based in Lake Sumter Community College has found a new home at Indian River State College and is focused on developing and training the current and future workforce in the energy industry. Some of the many things being taught at the center include power plant operations and maintenance mechanics. The center is linked with many of the state of Florida’s leading authorities on energy including Florida Power and Light, Florida Public Utilities and many more.

The Employ Florida Banner Center for Homeland Security and Defense aims to become the one stop shop for education, training, and information for the state of Florida’s homeland security, emergency response, and terrorism industries. Their overall goal is provide well trained and qualified workers from every level in those industries.

 The Employ Florida Banner Center for Homeland Security and Defense was created to ensure that the programs in the Florida educational institutions are relevant to industry standards. In this way, the Employ Florida Banner Center for Homeland Security and Defense helps promote the economic development in the homeland security, emergency response, and terrorism industries.

Employ Florida Banner Center for Logistics and Distribution’s goal is to support Florida’s industries by offering skilled worker training and technical support of the logistics and distribution industries. The training provided will encompass both the existing needs of the industry as well as future needs.

In order to ensure that there are a good number of skilled and qualified workers in the logistics and distribution industry, the Employ Florida Banner Center for Logistics and Distribution provides the information, education, and training that is cutting edge. This in turn fills the pipeline of talented workers ready to take on the challenges of the logistics and distribution industries.

The workforce for manufacturing in Florida is one that is both demanding and high-performance. The Employ Florida Banner Center for Manufacturing is determined to serve as the resource for the entire state of Florida when it comes to the evolving training, education, and support needs of the state’s manufacturing workforce. The center is committed to the expansion of the manufacturing industry statewide and will continue to provide development and support.