Veterans Florida briefs committee on SkillBridge, entrepreneur training and workforce partnerships
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Summary
Veterans Florida executive director Joe Marino updated the committee on SkillBridge placements, entrepreneur and cohort training, partnerships with University of Florida and Visit Florida, and two requested statutory tweaks to expand stipend eligibility and rename a program to reduce confusion.
Joe Marino, executive director of Veterans Florida (statutory: Florida is for Veterans, Inc., doing business as Veterans Florida), briefed the Senate committee on workforce recruitment and training programs for veterans and military-connected spouses.
Marino described Veterans Florida’s role as the state's initial point of transition assistance, administering the Florida Vets program under the Department of Veterans Affairs. He said the organization maintains SkillBridge partnerships across a range of employers (state agencies, law enforcement, manufacturing, aerospace, logistics and health care) and that SkillBridge placements have resulted in permanent hires; Marino read an example of a recently retired master chief who completed a SkillBridge placement and later accepted an offer of employment.
On entrepreneur programming, Marino summarized cohort-based training and workshops available statewide for veterans and spouses, and he described federal and university grant partnerships: a USDA-funded program placing veterans in six-month agricultural training at UF IFAS Research and Education Centers (including stipends) and an NSF-funded semiconductor hardware security training program. Marino said Veterans Florida seeks a statutory tweak to allow state workforce grant funds to be used as stipends to individuals training at UF IFAS Ag Vets facilities (current language makes such grants available only to employers) and proposed renaming the Veterans Employment Training Services Program to the Veterans Florida Opportunity Program to reduce confusion with similarly named federal/state programs.
Marino emphasized outreach efforts with Visit Florida and attendance at events such as air shows and the St. Petersburg Grand Prix to distribute benefits guides and recruit service members for SkillBridge. He thanked the legislature for recurring funding for the Vets program and said the organization will produce an annual report to update outcomes and metrics.
