JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As the community marks World Youth Skills Day, News4JAX and WareWorks Skilled Trades Institute announced a new partnership on Wednesday to expand awareness and access to high-demand skilled trades careers across Northeast Florida.
The partnership centers on Trade Up, a new community initiative and content collaboration between News4JAX and WareWorks that will highlight the people, programs and employers strengthening the region’s workforce.
MORE | Introducing Trade Up: Elevating skilled trades in Northeast Florida
Inspired by the success of a similar effort at our Graham Media Group sister station in Detroit, Trade Up will feature stories over the coming year focused on in-demand careers, apprenticeship opportunities, career and technical education, workforce innovations, and the skilled trades professionals who help “build our homes, power our communities, and maintain critical infrastructure.”
News4JAX will begin featuring Trade Up stories in the weeks ahead, introducing viewers and readers to local students starting their journeys, employers investing in talent, and community leaders creating new pathways to economic opportunity.
We start with a behind-the-scenes tour of the WareWorks facility with founder Chris Ware, chairman of Ware Capital, who grew The Ware Group from a single HVAC supply operation into a regional company with more than 40 locations.
WareWorks’ mission, he said, is to help build the next generation of skilled trades professionals through collaboration with community partners.
Rather than replacing existing training programs, WareWorks helps people navigate the many opportunities already available throughout Northeast Florida.
Facility tour
Ware showed News4JAX what used to be the Venus Swimwear headquarters and distribution center, where conveyor equipment remains.
Ware said that when he bought the 135,000-square-foot building on Marco Beach Drive on Jacksonville’s Southside, it looked like operations had barely stopped, joking it “must have had 10,000 bathing suits in it” during the closing process.
The WareWorks facility, which is near Beach Boulevard and I-295, might still carry pieces of its past, but News4JAX also saw hints of what it’s becoming.
Ware pointed out spaces designed for a 500-person workforce — including a large cafeteria and call center — and explained how WareWorks plans to repurpose areas throughout the building.
Some areas are slated to become flexible community spaces, including a corner that Ware said will be converted into a culinary event space.
And the property’s scale extends beyond the building: Ware said the site includes a field and roughly 350 parking spots, built to handle large groups as the institute grows.
“We’re populating it over time over the next six months,” Ware said, describing a phased rollout as partners and training activity expand inside the facility.
Plans for programming include conversations with companies about hosting short-term two- to three-week boot camps.
The University of North Florida is already partnering with WareWorks and using space in the facility for the university’s mechanical engineering students.
Future News4JAX coverage as part of our Trade Up partnership with WareWorks will include a UNF summer camp for high schoolers interested in engineering who are also taking advantage of the WareWorks building space.
And we’ll meet young students enjoying activities inside a Be Pro Be Proud mobile learning lab.
Follow News4JAX in the weeks ahead as we spotlight the people, programs, and professions building the future of Northeast Florida.
Click here for more information surrounding WareWorks.
Other strategies
In addition to Trade Up, leaders announced two additional efforts designed to remove barriers and create clearer pathways into skilled trades:
- A partnership with the national Be Pro Be Proud movement to bring a state-of-the-art mobile “Try-A-Trade” experience to North Florida, giving youth and adults hands-on simulations to explore dozens of trades.
- The debut of the WareWorks Career Pathway Platform, an online resource connecting students, parents, educators and job seekers with training programs, opportunities and crystal-clear career pathways throughout the skilled trades ecosystem.
Together, organizers say, the initiatives represent a commitment to changing perceptions and increasing awareness of high-demand, high-wage skilled trades careers in the region.