BY TRACY LEE TATE
Times Editor
LAKE BUTLER — Representatives from Career/Source Florida Crown attended the March meeting of the Union County Board of Commissioners to address concerns of the board as to the value the county was getting for participation with the agency.
At the February meeting of the board, where the board discussed continuing its participation with Florida Crown, Commissioner Jilly Tallman expressed concerns that the county was not getting all the benefits it deserved from the program, stating that the program seemed to be offering more help to the larger counties in its service area and neglecting its smaller members, such as Union County.
At the request of Commissioner Ryan Perez several representatives from Florida Crown attended the meeting, made a presentation about the services the organization provided and answered questions from commissioners. Robert Jones spoke to the board, as well as the organization’s new Direct Response Coordinator George Green.
Perez introduced the representatives, saying that he wanted to deal with the issues and misunderstandings that had been discussed at the precious meeting and to define the roles and processes the organization would provide to county residents.
Tallman reiterated his comments from the previous month that he felt Union County was not receiving services comparable to other counties, citing Columbia County as his main example. He said that the office that had been opened in Union County had closed after just a few months, saying that he was told it was closed because of “lack of community response.” He said he felt that there was a serious lack of communication between the board the Florida Crown and that counties such as Columbia were getting a bigger slice of the pie that Union.
“I want more for Union County,” Tallman said.
Jones said that the Union County office had closed due to a drastic reduction in the organization’s budget and that the Dixie County office had been closed as well. HE noted that the Gilchrist County office had remained open. He cited figures that Columbia County made up about 50% of the total interaction with Florida Crown and the services it provides, while Union only accounted for 13% of that total. Jones also said that Florida Crown can only provide services that can be “tied” to a particular individual (Social Security number) and took referrals from the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF).
Tallman responded to these comments with the response that the lack of communication was a major problem and noted that Columbia County had donated money to the organization for services.
Jones introduced Green and said that he would act as the organizations liaison with Union County to address any concerns the board members had about the services they were receiving. Green then added that he would be attending the board’s monthly meetings so to be on hand to deal with questions and concerns.
Jones provided commissioners with a handout what Florida Crown has done in Union County in the past year (2021). Outlined on the sheet were numbers of services provided and the dollar amount spent in providing these services. Listed were:
—Working with 24 employers in the county is assisting them in finding employees, providing 324 total services in this area.
—Working with 141 job seekers in the county, providing them with 189 services.
—Combined WT/SNAP participation with county families, assisting 44 families with children and 1231 families without children.
—Offered three youth programs in the county, including Why-Try (with 56 participants at a cost of $25,000), Summer Youth Employment (8 participants at a cost of $18,000) and High School Hi-Tech (15 participants at a cost of $16,000).
Jones said that the cost of the youth programs totaled $59,000 for the year and that the combined economic impact in the county of all the services provided totaled $411,000.
Jones went on to talk about the services Florida Crown offered in helping local residents in getting a college education that would lead to employment. He said that the desired outcome of this assistance was a starting wage of at least $14,000 per year, limiting the available career options to mostly jobs in medical fields, transportation or logistics.
After the presentation and discussion with Jones and Green, the board voted unanimously to approve the renewal of the interlocal agreement between Union County and Florida Crown.
