Chipola District Education Summit
March 14, 2017
The first ever Chipola District Education Summit was co-hosted by the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and Chipola College Tuesday, March 14th at Rivertown Community Church. The Summit focused on “Degrees to Jobs” and was a follow up to Florida 2030 Town Hall held in January as well as Governor Rick Scott's February Jobs Summit.
The event was sponsored by Florida Public Utilities. Lynwood Tanner briefly spoke of his new role as Manager of Government Affairs and spoke of FPU's support of the community and its mission to aid in Economic Development.
Dr. Sarah Clemmons, newly named President of Chipola College kicked off the summit with a message of the importance of collaboration between education, workforce and the business community. K-12 Schools from Calhoun, Liberty, Jackson, Washington and Holmes County were given the opportunity to discuss Career Technology Programs in their district. Darwin Gilmore, Dean of Workforce and Economic Development at Chipola College provided an update on the expansion of Workforce Program offerings at Chipola. Richard Williams, Executive Director of CareerSource Chipola spoke about the talent needs of the 5 County Workforce.
The event concluded with Keynote Speaker Jennifer Grove of Gulf Power. Ms. Grove has worked with The Southern Company for over 20 years. As Gulf Power’s Community Development Manager, she is responsible for leading Gulf Power’s engagement in programs and partnerships that grow Northwest Florida’s community competitiveness, including cradle to career education, workforce development, economic development infrastructure support, regional par tner support and key industry sector support, such as Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation/Information Technology. Ms. Grove was recognized in 2012 by US News as one of the Top 100 Women in STEM for her role in STEM talent development.
Ultimately the event was held to address the ever increasing Skills Gap. Chamber Officials and Chipola College Leadership felt the event was successful in bringing together educational partners from the 5 county Chipola District and the Business Community to start a conversation that we hope leads to action among all the stakeholder groups.
The event was sponsored by Florida Public Utilities. Lynwood Tanner briefly spoke of his new role as Manager of Government Affairs and spoke of FPU's support of the community and its mission to aid in Economic Development.
Dr. Sarah Clemmons, newly named President of Chipola College kicked off the summit with a message of the importance of collaboration between education, workforce and the business community. K-12 Schools from Calhoun, Liberty, Jackson, Washington and Holmes County were given the opportunity to discuss Career Technology Programs in their district. Darwin Gilmore, Dean of Workforce and Economic Development at Chipola College provided an update on the expansion of Workforce Program offerings at Chipola. Richard Williams, Executive Director of CareerSource Chipola spoke about the talent needs of the 5 County Workforce.
The event concluded with Keynote Speaker Jennifer Grove of Gulf Power. Ms. Grove has worked with The Southern Company for over 20 years. As Gulf Power’s Community Development Manager, she is responsible for leading Gulf Power’s engagement in programs and partnerships that grow Northwest Florida’s community competitiveness, including cradle to career education, workforce development, economic development infrastructure support, regional par tner support and key industry sector support, such as Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation/Information Technology. Ms. Grove was recognized in 2012 by US News as one of the Top 100 Women in STEM for her role in STEM talent development.Ultimately the event was held to address the ever increasing Skills Gap. Chamber Officials and Chipola College Leadership felt the event was successful in bringing together educational partners from the 5 county Chipola District and the Business Community to start a conversation that we hope leads to action among all the stakeholder groups.
Contact:
Tiffany Garling, Executive Director
tiffany@jacksoncounty.com, 850-482-8060
