Come Join Us!

“We rise by lifting others” - Robert Ingersoll

?It’s refreshing to see the recent support for a community voice for tech in Tallahassee. I have been working for many years to develop pipelines that support local tech businesses. At the College of Communication and Information, our mission for our IT/ICT program is to serve the students: to recruit them into our program, to prepare them, and to send them off to change the world.

Most of these students are not familiar with what is available in Tallahassee and we need to do a better job of communicating their options to them.?We have many local companies with amazing portfolios and international clients right here in Tallahassee. 75% of our students come from South/Central Florida – they are here for a few short years and then they either return home or venture to a new location. It is nice to see healthy tech communities such as Miami, Tampa, and Orlando acting as a draw for many of our students, especially considering many of the top 100 tech companies are out of state, but many students leave unaware of the abundant opportunities here in Tallahassee.

FSU and CCI work hard to actively support our students in their job search. The Career Center does an excellent job helping students with experiential learning and employment. The College hosts a career fair twice annually to provide opportunities for local small businesses to recruit talent and support students. We also host many local company speakers in our classrooms, send groups of students to tour local businesses (we have hosted a job hop for the past five years in partnership with the Chamber), and are connected with TalTech Alliance, Florida Tech Council, the Tallahassee Chamber, Domi Station, Refresh Tallahassee, and many others. We want our students to succeed, and we want our local businesses to share in that success.

We have built a strong IT and ICT program with the support of local businesses and developed a nationally ranked Master’s in IT program.?Our faculty actively work to improve our programs, generate research, and invest their time in “connecting people, information, and technology for the betterment of society.”?Our students find excellent jobs (we track this!). We know that most (but not all) of our students leave Florida after graduation but they eventually come back after a few years when it’s time to start a family or be closer to their own families; they miss the beach, the sun, and they hate paying taxes – mostly they hate paying state taxes! With hybrid options and remote work growing, I expect that more will work from Florida in the future.?We want these alumni to know about the opportunities waiting for them not only throughout the State of Florida, but within Tallahassee as well.

As a parent in Leon County with kids in local schools, I want to see a vibrant tech community that reaches back to the schools, supports teachers and CTE education, helps local schools develop coding and robotics programs, and supports local K-12 hackathons, STEM clubs, etc.?A robust K-12 pipeline benefits us all.?A strong tech program at TCC, FAMU, and FSU also benefits our community by providing talent, generating startups, and driving innovation.?

On Wednesday 3/23, the Launch Tally initiative will take off! Its mission is to assemble Tallahassee’s tech companies, non-profits, government, universities, and entrepreneurs to provide a hub for resources, opportunities, and talent in our community. In essence, this event brings the community together. The College is part of that effort. We want to develop a community solution, a Tallahassee solution.?Questions still remain - how do we work together? How do we communicate more effectively? How do we share opportunities with everyone so that we can do a better job of recruiting and retaining talent in Tallahassee? How do we help our startups find a home here? How do we build k-12 programs in tech/CTE??How do we help Non-Profits get the tech help they need? How do we help existing companies continue to grow and recruit talent? We may not be able to answer all these questions, but we have to start somewhere.

Like any initiative, you need champions - thank you Eddie Gonzalez Loumiet (Ruvos), James Taylor (Florida Technology Council), and Corrie Melton (Tallahassee Chamber) for your work in helping to get us here. It’s time for all voices to work together; we cannot wait while other communities get their acts together with us waiting. Come join us and become part of the solution! Some of our speakers include: Dr. Steve McDowell, Kristin Dozier, James Taylor, Corrie Melton, Cristina Paredes, Bonnie Burk, Jeff Whalen, Robert Blacklidge, Eddie Gonzalez Loumiet, and Vincent Hunt.

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