Advancing Job Creation

He may not appreciate or fully agree with the label but Dr. Jim Kerley is a whirling dervish for education.

The Pied Piper of Opportunity may be a more appropriate moniker because Kerley, president of Gulf Coast Community College, not only talks the talk but he walks the walk, of providing opportunities and hope, as he eloquently put it last week.

No better example could be found than his wildly generous gesture of a college education to a young mother-to-be who had never given up on her dream of a high school diploma.

As evidenced by the story on B1 of this paper, Kerley provided the spark for the dream of more with a simple gesture of grace.

And that is what Kerley brought, passionately, to the Gulf County School Board meeting room, a dream of more, not just for the college, but for partners from the K-12 school systems in the college’s service area to the Florida State University branch across the street from the GCCC main campus.

“We have a very seamless operation with the university and also with the K-12 systems out there, that is a key for us,” Kerley said.

Specifically, Kerley’s trip was an introduction and invite to the groundbreaking for the college’s new Advanced Technology Center.

This is more than a new building on the campus, complete with all the modern bells and whistles, as Kerley noted.

The college and its board and administration looked ahead, set aside state dollars for bricks and mortar that might have gone to other construction projects in past years with an eye toward creating something special, something that would impact not just a college, not just a community, but a region.

“This is about creating a world-class workforce,” Kerley said. “This is a regional thing; this is about economic development and jobs creation. This is particularly about creating high-tech, high-paying jobs.”

And for the industrious student, those jobs are easily within reach, Kerley noted.

While GCCC has created its first bachelor’s degree program, the reality is, Kerley said, that many career paths to the jobs in the Advance Technology Center focuses on – in information technology, sustainable energy, digital media, entrepreneur development –do not require a bachelor’s or advanced degrees for success.

Groundbreaking for the center, which will be located near the baseball field with an elevated walkway connecting to FSU-PC, will be held next Thursday with a projected opening of the fall of 2012.

Kerley, ever the preacher when it comes to education and kids, noted that the Advanced Technology Center will offer programs “that are more cutting edge and that will attract industry.”

Emerging technologies, culinary arts, music production, sustainable energy including the windmills that will sit atop the center and provide a percentage of its power, all programs aimed at providing opportunity and hope, two things Kerley is passionate about.

Actually passionate doesn’t even come close to the bar.

But the message Kerley brought seemed so appropriate for these times.

As a region is held paralyzed by an oil leak and the havoc that could be wreaked upon Gulf County, Kerley provided a ray of sunshine in the context of a broader base of economic survival.

Tourism is and will be continue to be a critical component to the economic vitality of this region.

As one county commissioner noted last week, to be out along the beaches and waters of the Gulf of Mexico and St. Joseph Bay is to appreciate their beauty and how fortunate we are.

There is simply nothing quite like the ocean and a sandy beach to believe all is right with the world, at least for a time.

However, long have local economic development officials said that the county had to put more legs under the stool of the local economy, that tourism alone would not pull the county forward.

That seems particularly on point at this time as at some juncture tourism figures to take at least some hit, in what form and to what extent is not clear, from the Deepwater Horizon leak.

In contrast Kerley’s message resonated. Economic development must take place on multiple fronts. The college can be a leader, education is critical but an energized and prepared workforce and a viable business sector are vital.

Kerley pointed to the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport as a significant step.

Locally, 2010 seems an important year for the Port of Port St. Joe and its future. While some forward momentum can be seen, that momentum has not come at the hoped for speed.

A contract to build as many as 1,000 homes in Haiti as a pilot project seems close to the bottom line for Taunton Truss but crucial would be broader inroads to establish contacts and contracts benefiting the country and the county’s economy.

Economic development officials believe they are thisclose to such a breakthrough.

The new Sacred Heart Hospital on the Gulf Coast is by all indications growing and thriving, services added or expanded seemingly by the week, as illustrated on Page B8 of this paper.

There are rays of hope, often clouded by the daily news, but shining nonetheless.

Listen to Dr. Jim Kerley long enough to discover one source of light.