History

The business community in Plant City launched our work as an organic grassroots effort to connect with graduating seniors in order to fulfill their workforce needs. We started with a single job fair at Plant City High School in 2015 and realized that students, teachers, and employers were excited to continue to expand on the opportunities available for students’ next steps post-graduation.

Through a progressive evolution of the program elements and growth throughout Hillsborough County, the nonprofit Workforce Development Partners Corp was formed to allow for community collaboration and support for our programs. Following COVID, the incredible need for diverse career and training options for students led the district to expand these opportunities to all students in Hillsborough County and include the Future Career Academy’s curriculum in every high school beginning in the 2022-2023 school year. Continued expansion brings our curriculum to 37 high schools in the county including all of the traditional, career, exception, and alternative sites.

A second program, Best Florida Jobs, was introduced to help adult job seekers access our diverse career opportunities and to help round out our employers’ hiring needs.

Partnerships with employers, training organizations, community organizations, and many other champions for our youth continue to expand our impact with in-demand, entry-level jobs along with long-term career growth and sustainable employment. This creates life-changing opportunities for students, their families, and employers as we provide an economic catalyst in our community. We look forward to continuing to grow through our work within Hillsborough and other counties in the future.