The Great Recession of the late 2000s proved to be a difficult time for many individuals and businesses. The period of economic decline negatively impacted big businesses and resulted in many workers losing their jobs. As a result, CareerSource of North Central Florida, the regional workforce board for Alachua and Bradford counties, sought to create a robust program that would benefit those who were without jobs.
CSNCFL had a goal to constitute an entrepreneurial-based training program for unemployed residents that would connect teams of qualified individuals with successful CEOs and entrepreneurs to learn how to transform an invention or discovery into a product for the marketplace. In essence, the organization set out to find people with great entrepreneurial spirit; those who could help Gainesville’s local business landscape expand. The result was StartupQuest.
StartupQuest is a ten-week program for unemployed or underemployed degree-holding professionals. Program participants are placed in teams that devise specific business models for simulated companies based on existing technology. Each team is matched with a technology developed by a Florida university, federal lab or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. At the end of ten weeks, teams will compete in an investor pitch concept, after which they have the opportunity to network and learn how to receive continued support and funding for their ideas.
The first StartupQuest launched in 2011 with 83 program participants. The participants were brought together through collaboration among the CSNCFL, University of Florida Office of Technology and Licensing, the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce and 13 private investors and mentors. The pilot program was funded by a CareerSource Florida grant of $175,000.
The first program proved to be so favorable that it led to a nearly $12 million U.S. Department of Labor Workforce Education and Administration Innovation Fund grant and evaluation study over five years for the expansion of the program across seven more workforce regions in Florida, according to the program’s website. Since its inception, StartupQuest has been widely successful in promoting its effort to create jobs and opportunities for people who otherwise would not be able to find them. StartupQuest has benefitted the local workforce, local businesses and employers. It has allowed for the extreme growing of self-employment through entrepreneurship and has been effective in encouraging a shift in mindset from “find a job” to “create my job.”
More recently, CSNCFL has developed a new initiative, STEMReady. The program provides local employers the opportunity to bring talented and capable individuals on at no cost to work in STEM-based internships, said Alyssa Brown, the communications director for the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce. The program was created in an effort to help those long-term unemployed individuals return to work in the STEM field. Employers provide real-world experience while strengthening the skills of the program’s participants.
She said interns are paid by CSNCFL, and employers get to set the wage. They also decide what functions the interns will provide. STEMReady began in 2014, when the U.S. Department of Labor awarded a $10 million grant to CSNCFL. The program’s goal is to provide training, internships and job placement assistance in STEM careers in the Gainesville, Tallahassee and Daytona regions, according to CSNCFL’s website.
Similar to StartupQuest, STEMReady has provided a great benefit to the local workforce and local employers. Businesses that choose to become STEMReady employer work sites will have steady access to qualified, motivated intern candidates. In addition, CSNCFL will pay for up to 12 weeks of training costs for participants. Ultimately, the intern-training period can be used as a trial work experience, so employers could decide if they want to hire the new interns at the end of the program. Businesses that are interested in becoming STEMReady employer work sites can visit CSNCFL’s website to submit an application. Those who are interested in participating in either StartupQuest or STEMReady should refer to the CSNCFL’s website at careersourcencfl.com for eligibility requirements and more information.
BRIANNA SACHS is a senior at the University of Florida studying public relations and innovation. She is originally from Boca Raton, Florida. She has always had a passion for writing and one day hopes to combine her love of writing, event planning, fashion and beauty to open a fashion-based public relations agency. She is a self-proclaimed foodie and always loves trying new restaurants. In her spare time, she likes to bake, travel and take fitness classes.