If you want to help shape future graduates of the county’s public school system, now is the time to take a quick online survey to provide your input. The deadline is Nov. 30. Polk County Public Schools is developing a strategic plan to ensure all graduates are ready to enter college or the workforce. As […]
Originally Published in Polk FWD Magazine Nonprofit organizations play a significant role in our community, everything from the United Way and Volunteers in Service to the Elderly to economic development and visioning agencies. We all know Polk County is a charitable community. Numbers back that up. In 2017, 43,000 Polk Countians donated just shy of […]
CareerSource Polk is hosting the 2021 Veterans and Community Job Fair to help match employers looking for job candidates with those seeking careers. A private, nonprofit administrator of workforce funds, CareerSource Polk is partnering with Polk Vision and the Central Florida Development Council to host the Nov. 17 event from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. […]
A decade in the making, Winter Haven Corp. and the city of Lake Wales have agreed on a development plan that could ultimately attract businesses and restaurants to the small southeastern Polk County city, and double its population. “It’s the last asset owned by the Winter Haven Corp., and this plan will protect floodplains and […]
The new Hospitality and Marketing Academy at Davenport High School (DHS) is preparing students to enter the field with unique skills. Courses being offered at the new high school, which opened in August 2021, include multiple career programs in the fine arts, hospitality and hotel management, technology, computer modeling and gaming. That includes the first […]
As manufacturing continues to play a key role in diversifying Polk County’s economy, it’s clear that education is a vital component to ensuring a workforce that is trained to handle jobs that have changed considerably in the last 20 years. Florida Polytechnic University, Polk State College, Florida Southern College and Southeastern University are all important […]
Advanced manufacturing and tech-enabled companies help students, researchers and professors, while propelling Polk County’s economy. Ridvan Gedik, associate professor of Supply Chain Management at Florida Southern College’s Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise said Polk County’s institutions of higher learning understand that manufacturing new and better technology is what companies strive for to […]
Polk County’s leaders were well represented in Florida Trend’s Florida 500, a comprehensive list the magazine develops of the state’s most influential business leaders. This year, 15 people from Polk County landed on the list. Florida Trend develops the list “using broad economic categories from the U.S. Department of Commerce, with the number of influentials […]
The aerospace world has changed dramatically since NASA stopped using the space shuttle to ferry astronauts, supplies and satellites to orbit in July 2011. Companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are now filling the void, but NASA remains active as it plans to send the first Artemis mission to the moon and launch a new […]
Incoming Central Florida Development Council Chairman of the Board Bart Allen brings a new perspective to the organization, one that he hopes will keep the CFDC building upon the successes of the past few years and moving forward. Allen is a lawyer specializing in land use and environmental law at Peterson & Myers in Lakeland. […]