ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando Downtown Development Board kicked off its 50th anniversary and unveiled a new sculpture on South Orange Avenue on Wednesday.
“In 1971, the Florida Legislature created the downtown development board with a mission to strengthen the role of downtown Orlando as the economic, governmental and cultural center of Central Florida,” said Thomas Chatmon Jr., executive director of DDB.
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City officials spoke about downtown Orlando’s growth throughout the years, though things took a turn when the pandemic hit last year.
But now with businesses back up and running, many are still struggling to bring back staff.
”It’s been a weird deal really. For the past year they’ve had limited capacity and people have been out of work and now that restaurants and bars and other establishments retail and such are coming back on line they are having difficulty attracting workers,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said.
Last week, more than 150 companies offered positions during a job fair at the Central Florida Fairgrounds, some offered sign-on bonuses on the spot with hopes to get people back to work.
On Tuesday, the Orlando International Airport also held a job fair with dozens of employers offering jobs from security to customer service and hospitality.
The mayor explained the city is using a program to connect and prepare residents for job opportunities
“We have something called Blueprint 2.0, which we provide stipends for people who are getting additional job training to elevate themselves to higher-level, better-pay jobs,” Dyer said.