Job training program to accept applicants in coming weeks
A job training program, funded by a $199,970 grant obtained from the EPA, is set to begin accepting applicants for its second cohort in the coming days.
The program, which will focus on training locals in environmental fields, aims to help create a qualified workforce that can be tapped to address widespread pollution and redevelopment issues in Port St. Joe, particularly North Port St. Joe. It is tuition-free, and there is no application fee.
There will be a mandatory orientation for applicants on Sept. 18 from noon to 2 p.m. EDT at CareerSource, located at 307 Peters Street in Port St. Joe. The orientation is free and open to any applicant who is aged 18 or older. Weekly stipends will be provided to trainees.
The training itself will run for six weeks from 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. EDT Monday through Friday and will meet at Zion Fair Missionary Baptist Church.
The program will be accepting 10 to 15 applicants for the second round of trainings, but additional rounds will be opened in the coming months.
The grant funding the job training is one of three that have been obtained by Pioneer Bay CDC from the EPA.
Pioneer Bay, a non-profit working towards North Port St. Joe’s redevelopment goals, received the first grant, a community problem solving grant, in late 2021. It will be used to kick start a project aimed at improving unsafe housing conditions in the community.
The third grant, which was announced last summer, provides nearly half a million dollars in funding that will be used to conduct 16 phase one environmental site assessments, followed by eight phase two assessments, and the creation of eight cleanup plans.
The training is scheduled to officially begin on September 25.
For more information about the job training program or the grants, contact Pioneer Bay CDC at 850-227-5662.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.