Employment Partner Kevin Shaughnessy was featured in the Orlando Sentinel on November 25 (“Workforce Central Florida: Jobs agency chief vows reforms”) for his work as the new chairman of Workforce Central Florida, a publicly funded nonprofit charged with improving the region's labor market.
According to Shaughnessy, who is also an adviser to Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, the agency must do a better job handling its finances and tracking the effectiveness of its programs. Though his initial review of the agency confirms its employees want to help unemployed Central Floridians, Shaughnessy feels the organization doesn’t “have a sense of where the money is best spent to create or help people find jobs.”
Since late October, Shaughnessy and other new board members have been trying to identify and fix problems with the agency. According to the article, in September “Governor Rick Scott demanded the resignations of the entire Workforce Central Florida board and almost all of its executives” after several Orlando Sentinel articles criticizing the agency’s management were published. Several examples of questionable spending have surfaced during the past six months.
Shaughnessy expects the agency's bylaws will be rewritten to require greater participation from Workforce board members. Historically, the agency's board met just four times a year and delegated much of its authority to Workforce executives.
"It's clear," Shaughnessy said, "that the board needs to be more involved with expenditures."