Press Release

Florida’s Great Northwest Awards Five Secondary Education Grants

Destin, Fla. – (April 8, 2008) Florida’s Great Northwest announced the award of $575,244 in Secondary Education Career Academy Creation grants across Northwest Florida. The grant awards are funded by Florida's Great Northwest’s WIRED (Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development) Northwest Florida Initiative.

The WIRED Northwest Florida Initiative secondary education grants were developed in 2006 to promote career skills training or intense, accelerated math and science training at the secondary education level for post-graduation employment in Northwest Florida’s targeted industries of Aviation, Aerospace, Defense, and National Security; Life Sciences (Human Performance Enhancement, Medical Device Manufacturing, Medical Technologies, Health Services, and Biotechnology); Information Technology; Engineering; Renewable Energy and Environment; Transportation, Logistics, and Distribution; and Construction Product Manufacturing.

Florida's Great Northwest is committed to support the development of six specialized foundations that work as basic economic engines driving a diversified and sustainable economy. The development of Northwest Florida’s workforce is one of these specialized foundations and is a focus of Florida's Great Northwest’s initiatives. The demand for a skilled workforce in the target industries continues to grow as Northwest Florida’s existing businesses expand, other businesses locate in the region and entrepreneurial technology companies emerge. Growing our own talent to meet the employment and on-going educational needs of the critical industries is vital as high-wage, high-skill jobs expand within the region.

Information technology services and research & engineering services are two critical support industries that have been identified as being inherently essential to the success of diversifying Northwest Florida’s economy. Both information technology services and research & engineering services are cross-cutting fields that transcend all of the target clusters. All five grants awarded during this 2008 Secondary Education grant funding cycle support programs committed to the development of workforce talent in these two critical support industries.

In the three years that the WIRED Northwest Florida Initiative Secondary Education grants have been available, $2,296,250 has been invested by Florida's Great Northwest into career development programs in secondary education institutions. Thirteen of the region’s 16 counties have received grant funding and more than $3.7 million has been invested as matching funds to support the development of these programs through the collaboration of local schools, counties, and area businesses, among others.

Qualified secondary education career institutes are modeled after Okaloosa County School District’s CHOICE™ program and/or accelerated math & science training. The CHOICE™ program offers graduates industry recognized certification, high school credit and college credit. Accelerated math & science training is intended to promote increased student enrollment and success in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) courses. The accelerated math & science training may include the nationally recognized Project Lead the Way program, a specialized curriculum developed at both the high school and middle school levels. Project Lead the Way's curricula makes math and science relevant for students by engaging in hands-on, real-world projects that allow students to understand how the skills they are learning in the classroom can be applied in everyday life.

The WIRED Northwest Florida Initiative Secondary Education Career Academy Creation grants will be used for program start-up costs and each recipient is required to match the grant award with no less than a 100% match. For 2008, the school districts have pledged a match for the five grant awards totaling $1,123,549. The following five programs receiving grant funding will create sustainable secondary education programs in six of Northwest Florida’s 16-county region. Following are the grant programs that were selected for funding:

CHOICE™ CAREER ACADEMY REPLICATION PROGRAMS:

Gadsden County School District was awarded $110,000 and will be providing a match of $537,310 to replicate the Okaloosa County CHOICE™ Information Technology institute at West Gadsden High School. Gadsden County School District is working with the Banner Center for Career Academies/Secondary to determine specific curriculum and certifications to be offered. There is anticipated initial enrollment in the program of 25 students and will grow to 100 students over the coming years.

Franklin & Liberty County School Districts were together awarded $110,400 and will be providing a joint match of $121,700 to expand the IT-CORE (Information Technology – Career Opportunities for Rural Economies) program. In 2007, Franklin and Liberty Counties initially collaborated and were awarded $112,000 from Florida’s Great Northwest to implement a cross-county and cross-community college regional IT-CORE at both Franklin High School and Liberty High School. The initial program provided additional opportunities for career and technical training that included industry recognized certifications of A+ Certification, CompTIA i-Net+ Certification and AutoCAD Certification. This 2008 grant award will bring additional IT industry certification opportunities building on the existing program. There is anticipated initial enrollment of 15 to 20 students per grade per school.

ACCELERATED MATH & SCIENCE CURRICULUM PROGRAMS

Washington County School District was awarded $200,000 and will be matching that investment with $246,988 to implement Project Lead the Way’s pre-engineering curriculum at Chipley and Vernon High Schools. There is anticipated enrollment in the program of 25 students per grade per school, which will provide opportunity for up to 200 students to participate in the curriculum.

Wakulla County School District was awarded $130,000 and will be matching that investment with $185,420 to expand its existing medical academy by adding Project Lead the Way’s Biomedical Science curriculum at Wakulla High School. This is a new offering only recently available through Project Lead the Way and Wakulla County will be one of the first districts to implement this cutting-edge program in Florida. There is anticipated enrollment at full implementation of the program of 150 students.

Gulf County School District was awarded $24,844 and will be matching that investment with $32,131 to expand its dual enrollment program that was initially funded in 2007 through the WIRED Northwest Florida Initiative at Port St. Joe and Wewehitchka High Schools. The 2007 grant award provided for a dual enrollment science course and the 2008 program will add a dual enrollment math course. There is an anticipated enrollment of 22 students per grade level per school for the 11th and 12th grades.

Florida’s Great Northwest, Inc. is the administrator and facilitating organization for the U.S. Department of Labor WIRED Grant. Florida’s Great Northwest WIRED Northwest Florida Initiative is designed to create high-wage, high-skill jobs within the region in the target industries of Aviation, Aerospace, Defense, and National Security; Life Sciences (Human Performance Enhancement, Medical Device Manufacturing, Medical Technologies, Health Services, and Biotechnology); Information Technology; Engineering; Renewable Energy and Environment; Transportation, Logistics, and Distribution; and Construction Products Manufacturing.

Florida’s Great Northwest is a regional economic development organization serving 16 counties in Northwest Florida from Pensacola through Tallahassee. Its primary mission is the creation of high-wage, high-skill jobs, branding and marketing, as well as support of the local economic development organizations in the region.