Palm Beach State College in Belle Glade has partnered with the School District of Palm Beach County and business and industry leaders in the Glades to develop a more streamlined and economical approach to job training for the area’s workforce.
The goal of the new initiative is to encourage business and industry leaders to collectively identify their workforce training needs, with programs to be provided by the college. “If we can identify the skills needed across the businesses and encourage the businesses to cooperate with each other, then we can provide the training at a more economical cost,’’ said Dr. Holly Bennett, provost of the Belle Glade campus.
A steering committee, which includes representatives from the School District of Palm Beach County, Florida Crystals, the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, Tripp Electric Motors and others, met June 11. The group is scheduled to meet again at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 15 at West Tech. In the meantime, steering committee members are working to get more businesses leaders in the Glades to sign on.
Bryan Cross, assistant manager of human resources at the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative, said that with an aging workforce, his company will need a good applicant pool to fill future jobs.
Cross said he knows that some companies will require specific training, but others have common training needs. “We’re hoping this next meeting will be more representative of the businesses and industries out here to identify the common needs,” he said.
