{"id":340261,"date":"2026-07-14T23:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/340261\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T23:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:36:12","slug":"cdc-of-tampa-says-more-people-seeking-skilled-trade-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/340261\/","title":{"rendered":"CDC of Tampa says more people seeking skilled trade training"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 The Community Development Corporation of Tampa<\/a> says more people are seeking skilled trade training as uncertainty about artificial intelligence, unemployment and college costs shape career decisions.<\/p>\n

At the Tampa Vocational Institute, students are learning trades such as electrical work and construction through programs offered by the CDC of Tampa.<\/p>\n

Darick Lovett is part of the Youth Build program and said the training is giving him a chance to find work he enjoys.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has really helped me and showed me different things that I have not seen before, you know, things college I don\u2019t think would have taught me,\u201d Lovett said.<\/p>\n

Lovett previously worked at fast-food restaurants, where he said he saw a shift in the use of artificial intelligence. He said that was one reason he wanted to learn a trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to learn certain things, they can\u2019t come and take it away from us or say, ‘Hey, AI can do these things,’ they would actually have to call someone to come and fulfill those spots,\u201d Lovett said.<\/p>\n

The latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows more than 7 million people nationwide are unemployed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith people losing jobs, it\u2019s like, ‘What can I do now? What\u2019s available to me?’ And they\u2019re looking for training opportunities,\u201d said David Jones, director of workforce development for the CDC of Tampa.<\/p>\n

Jones said interest in the organization\u2019s programs is high among people of all age groups. He said many are considering trade programs as an alternative to the cost of college. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey get a chance to test it out, and sometimes with stackable credentials they can go into manufacturing, they can go into warehouse, they can go into different trades that can better fit what they see themselves doing in the future,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Lovett said he hopes the training will help him eventually open a business and teach his skills to others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just know that with the qualifications they\u2019re giving me, I can really make a good career out of this,\u201d Lovett said.<\/p>\n

The CDC of Tampa also offers training programs to help companies refresh their skills or find ways to teach new skills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 The Community Development Corporation of Tampa says more people are seeking skilled trade training as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4996,274,113,276,6076,115,135,137,136,278,835],"class_list":["post-340261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-education","tag-app-top-stories","tag-education","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-lizbeth-gutierrez","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}