Thanks to $14.74 million in federal grants, more than 60 local employers will be creating new jobs in the next month.
The 656 positions are being subsidized with federal stimulus money through September 30, when the grants end. Between now and then, they will cover 95 percent of each worker’s salary and benefits.
If the program works as expected, it should boost the economy in the short-term, says Angela Pate, executive director of FloridaWorks, the workforce development board in Gainesville.

“We’re really hoping that if we shoot this money into our economy, it will help people feed their families and provide money they can spend at other businesses in their community to help them survive,” she says. “It’s an economic boost and that’s what we need in the middle of a recession.”
Pate said the program will generate jobs in the private, nonprofit and government sectors. A large number of the jobs will be in technical areas such as information technology and web development. But 28 percent of the positions will be non-desk jobs for workers who might do such tasks as land clearing and janitorial and facility work, she says.
Because FloridaWorks wants job seekers to apply through the agency rather than inundating business owners with calls, it would not publicly release the names of the employers who are participating in the program. But one business owner, who spoke anonymously, said she saw the stimulus as a wonderful opportunity to build her company.

“Because I have a small business and there’s not a steady stream of predictable sales, it would be difficult for me to make an investment in a new employee without this assistance,” she says. “Now, I can look for a very skilled employee who wants to work in a growth-oriented business and the subsidy buys me time to develop a stream of revenue to support the employee.”
Potential employees are clearly excited about the program too, says Kim Tesch-Vaught, vice president of workforce development for FloridaWorks. “My phone has been ringing night and day from job seekers who want to apply.”

The funding for the program is part of a federal effort to provide temporary assistance to needy families. As such, the firms receiving the subsidy have to spend it to hire workers who meet specific criteria, including being U.S. citizens, having at least one child younger than 18 living at home and having a family income that’s less than 200 percent of the federal poverty limit.
Also, participating for-profit employers have to commit to keeping the new workers employed after the subsidy ends. Nonprofit business and governments do not have to make that commitment.
FloridaWorks had to work quickly to apply for the federal grant. The agency was notified about the program in mid-December and had to inform employers and work with them to fill out extensive applications by January 16. In the following weeks, FloridaWorks pre-screened potential job candidates so it could help speed hiring once the grants were officially released, which occurred on February 18, says Tesch-Vaught.
Job seekers can apply for subsidized positions at floridaworksonline.com. While these jobs are only available to needy workers, FloridaWorks does have other programs that can help the unemployed, says Tesch-Vaught, including training programs in health care and green energy.