Congresswoman Corrine Brown and the City of Jacksonville put Florida Back to Work!

Press Release

"I would like to thank everyone who came out Monday to participate in our 20th annual job fair. With 10,000-12,000 attendees and many leaving with job offers, I'm proud to say we are making progress in our effort to reduce unemployment in the city of Jacksonville and get the great people of Florida Back to Work! Being able to assist potential job seekers in their quest to land a job with some of the best companies from around the Jacksonville area was an absolute pleasure.

Over150 companies attended Monday and gave thousands of people the opportunity to meet face to face with companies and discuss the best course of action to become employed. In addition, eleven Pre-Job Fair workshops took place through WorkSource Florida, Goodwill Industries Job Junctions and the Jacksonville Urban League throughout the city. These workshops assisted job seekers in the skills they need for interviews and face to face time with employers. In the last three years there has been a growing trend of companies directing job seekers to their websites to look for jobs. With the help of WorkSource we were able to have 100 computers for job seekers use, and assistance with online applications and employment services. Applicants were able to access those employers' websites who attended the Job Fair to apply immediately on-line for available positions and also meet face to face with them to further discuss employment opportunities.

Homeowners were also able to meet with advisors from Wealth Watchers regarding mortgage and foreclosure assistance, and find information on the Hardest-Hit Fund (the federal government program allocating funding to help pay the mortgages of qualified homeowners who are unemployed or underemployed through no fault of their own).

I would also like to acknowledge Representative Mia Jones and her staff for their help on the restoration of civil rights for ex-felons. The opportunity to have ex-felons re-integrate back into the employment system is a huge problem and we must continue to work to improve it.

I would like to especially thank all of the workshop facilitators and the more than one hundred volunteers who help to make this Job Fair a success.

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