TAMPA, Fla. — The University Area Community Development Corporation is offering targeted training and certification for 16 to 24-year-olds.
This is the first time the nonprofit focused a training program around the needs of our youth.
“I think it’s so important you know to show our youth there are different opportunities for employment,” Sarah Combs said.
Combs is the CEO of the University Area CDC a public/private partnership with the mission of creating positive change in their community through the redevelopment and sustainability of the at-risk areas surrounding the Tampa campus of the University of South Florida.
Training and certifications are available in several trades, including carpentry, masonry, plumbing, HVAC, and electrical. There is no cost to the program, transportation assistance, and services are online or in-person.
“Looking at the job market now, jobs are needed in the trades industry and that’s something we are seeing a loss in,” Combs said. Of course, the trades are so needed in our industry we have a hard time you know finding good masonries and then finding electricians as we work on our affordable housing projects so these are all good trades to be able to get engaged and involved in.”
Combs said so many families have struggled during this pandemic that job training is a great opportunity for our youth to learn a skill, build networks, and future-proof their careers.
“Some of our youth don’t think that they do have a future that can have a high living wage and so being able to show them that there is an opportunity to be able to do something in an industry that pays well and something also that they can create their own business out of,” Combs said.
For more information, you can go online or call 813-644-0285.