Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) approved a $25 million-dollar agreement on Thursday, June 4, 2020 to assist residents experiencing employment or business interruptions due to COVID-19 related business closures. The funding comes from the federal Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The agreement for this allotment will be managed by CareerSource Tampa Bay (CSTB) working closely with the BOCC.
Image/David Benbennick
The CARES Act monies will be used in Hillsborough County to support the Rapid Response Recovery (R3) Program – a wide-ranging program supporting both life safety and economic development. This portion of the funding will be used to quickly start workforce training programs.
The agreement will go into effect retroactively from June 1, 2020 until December 30, 2020.
“Getting our citizens back to work is vital during these tough economic times and it is critically important to help those seeking re-employment to give them the training and skills for a quality, sustainable job opportunity,” said Commissioner Sandra Murman who sits on the CSTB Board. “This initiative with the CARES ACT dollars will have a real impact to accelerate our workforce training efforts to get citizens trained and back on their feet and says that Hillsborough County is open for business again.”
“We are excited to work with Hillsborough County, partner agencies, area employers and training partners to implement this bold approach to up-skilling and re-tooling our workforce,” said CSTB CEO John Flanagan. “The On the Job Training program, which assists in the hiring and retention process of community residents will be key to moving job seekers into employment, by offsetting costs of training to business community, allowing for focus on work based learning, which will only bolster continued employment and retention after the program is completed. The goal for this program is not just employment today, but employment for the foreseeable future.”
The funding will allow CSTB to help high priority industries like Healthcare, Manufacturing, Information Technology, Financial Services and Construction trades from a talent perspective. It will also give CSTB the ability to access the workforce from adversely affected industries like Hospitality and Tourism to either place directly into employment or offer short term training.
This will also allow CSTB to continue to create a skilled workforce, in the areas of most need, that will give Hillsborough County and the Tampa Bay region a distinct advantage in business retention, expansion and attraction.
“We are thrilled to implement this program to help people get the skills they need to get back to work,“ said John Flanagan, CEO with CSTB. “We are preparing to implement the program immediately and will work closely with the County to implement this agreement. This is an unprecedented major undertaking and partnership to help residents and businesses experiencing employment or business interruptions due to COVID-19-related business closures.”
Details on how people and businesses can apply to participate in the programs will be released later this month.
Some of the funding already has been allocated to specific programs with the R3 Program, such as for utility, rent, and mortgage assistance. Hillsborough County will update residents and businesses on the details of the funding as specifics are approved.
