Pete Tesh, president of the Economic Development Council, and Ezelina Goldstein, chairwoman of the EDC, described a new private‑sector education nonprofit and ongoing collaboration with Saint Lucie Public Schools to expand workforce pathways.

The development is important because it links local business leaders with K–12 career and technical education, internships and paid work experience, which district and EDC officials said should increase students’ access to meaningful local jobs and strengthen the county workforce pipeline.

"This is the private sector workforce centric approach to helping, our children and our future workforce," Pete Tesh said, introducing the initiative. Goldstein said the new 501(c)(3), the Treasure Coast Center for Economic and Educational Development (TCC'd), was created "with a bold vision to build a future where every student in Saint Lucie County has access to meaningful careers, where businesses thrive because they're powered by homegrown talent." She cited the classrooms‑to‑careers program, career coaches for graduating seniors, an upcoming career fair and a new eighth‑grade experience.

Anita Fisher, identified in the meeting as the EDC director of workforce readiness, described implementation details: this summer the EDC and partners placed "over 50 students" in paid internships across functions including administration, finance, IT, social media and marketing, and the program will expand in partnership with Saint Lucie Public Schools and the Boys and Girls Club. Fisher said two to three career fairs were organized this year and that an eighth‑grade experience will be added for the coming school year.

Superintendent John Prince thanked the EDC and the business community and said classrooms‑to‑careers is being phased to include elementary exposure, middle‑school exploration and high‑school internships as the "experience" tier. "If they're not gonna go into post secondary and college, then they've gotta go out and get high paying jobs right here in Saint Lucie County," Prince said as he framed the district's aim to create viable local career paths.

EDC representatives asked the board to view the partnership as intentional alignment between business and schools; board members and the superintendent accepted remarks and invited a brief photo opportunity. Officials said they will continue to expand paid internships and events, and to report progress as part of district workforce readiness goals.