St. Petersburg College and local manufacturing company LumaStream Tuesday announced a partnership to bring job opportunities and hands-on manufacturing training to the Midtown area of St. Petersburg.
LumaStream, which manufactures innovative Intelligent LED lighting systems, is moving a production facility to the Midtown area. St. Petersburg College, as the the lead institution in the Florida TRADE Consortium, will use the LumaStream facilities to offer training that can lead to an entry-level job with the company or with another advanced manufacturing institution.
“We are honored to announce our innovative partnership with SPC for an Advanced Manufacturing Training Center. Our goal is to seamlessly combine academic learning with real world manufacturing that will best prepare students for the high demand jobs. It is clear that SPC is on the forefront of progressive education with the leadership of Dr. Law and Dr. Gordon,” LumaStream CEO, Eric Higgs stated.
The Florida TRADE Consortium is funded by a $15-million Department of Labor grant and charged with offering training in advanced manufacturing to displaced and unemployed workers, returning veterans who are looking to transition into the workforce and both high school and college students.
The training is designed to be completed in three to six months and can lead to internships and jobs in manufacturing. As participants move through the training, they will acquire the skills and knowledge to earn nationally recognized industry certifications that will also transfer into free college credits toward an Associate of Science degree.
Information sessions for those interested in the SPC/LumaStream project will be held at St. Petersburg College campuses beginning in mid-July. The training is scheduled to being in September.
St. Petersburg College news 
So how do you get a job with Lumastream?
No job posting??
I’m the Project Coordinator for the Florida TRADE Grant at St. Petersburg College. LumaStream is still remodeling their Pinellas County building and so it doesn’t have any job openings yet. Once they are ready to start production, they will be looking for skilled CNC operators, which is one of the advanced manufacturing careers the Florida TRADE program prepares you to do. If you have other questions about this training program, please feel free to contact me at flansburg.jill@spcollege.edu. –Jill Flansburg, Ph.D.