As the world speeds forward and embraces more of a technology-based economy, the Tampa Innovation Alliance (TIA) is hoping to do its part to help the area around both New Tampa and the USF area keep pace.
Last month, the Alliance got a pretty sizable helping hand.
On June 28, the federal government awarded TIA a $3.8-million TechHire Partnership Grant, one of 39 distributed across the nation and announced by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Department of Labor Secretary Tom Perez.
“There is no limit to what we can accomplish when we work together,’’ said TIA President and CEO Mark Sharpe in a press release the day the grants were announced.
The grant, the result of a partnership between TIA and CareerSource Tampa Bay, the University Area Community Development Corporation (UACDC), Hillsborough County and the Tampa Bay Technology forum — and championed by District 14 U.S. Congresswoman Kathy Castor — will help with programming and training for technology and healthcare jobs, for those in the North Tampa area who are unemployed, underemployed or merely looking for a career change.
The grant is a huge award for TIA, which was founded in 2014 by Sharpe (a former Hillsborough County commissioner) and area businesses with the intention of rejuvenating the North Tampa area around the University of South Florida. Sharpe hopes to transform the area economically through business innovation — and grants like this will help.
“When you think about us as a relatively new organization, taking our first attempt at a national grant, that’s a big deal,’’ said Kelley Sims, the senior vice-president of TIA.
TechHire was launched in 2015 as part of a federal government initiative designed to build economic development through the growth of technology jobs nationwide.
Sims said she believes TIA was able to secure the grant because of its strong partnerships with more than 150 area businesses, many which have already declared an interest in hiring graduates of the Tampa Bay TechHire program.
“This is for an extreme variety of people, from those entering the workforce to those who just want to change their place in the workforce,’’ she said.
Applicants for the grant funds must be between 17-29 years old, with barriers to employment and training opportunities (e.g., lack of money, transportation or having to work full-time while training to support a family, etc.), says CareerSource Tampa Bay (& Pinellas) programs director Michelle Schultz.
CareerSource will partner with Hillsborough Community College (HCC), St. Petersburg College (SPC) and the UACDC to provide the tech training, and HCC, SPC and the Erwin Technical College (a vocational school in the Hillsborough County Public School system) for healthcare training.
The program also is designed to benefit “frontline incumbents,” Schultz said, as workers employed at IBM and BayCare Health Systems also will have opportunities for training to advance in their current positions.
USF will allow participants to earn certificates and associate degrees in customized programs.
“This can be transformational for the area,’’ Sims said.
Although the boundaries of TIA are between Busch Blvd. (to the south) and Bearss Ave. (to the north), and between I-275 (to the west) and I-75 (to the east), Sims said our readership’s proximity to the area means New Tampa-area residents and businesses also will benefit.
“As that (USF) area improves, so improves the jobs available for those who may be living in New Tampa or for (USF) graduate students who want to live in New Tampa,’’ Sims said. “The idea that a whole other area is being created around the north part of Tampa, which you haven’t been hearing about the last 10 or 20 years, means new opportunities for everyone living in the area. It’s really going to affect us all.”
For more information about the Tampa Innovation Alliance, visit Tampa Innovation.com.
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