Groundwork Jacksonville

Project Details: Groundwork Jacksonville is the City of Jacksonville’s nonprofit partner in building the Emerald Trail, a 30-mile bicycle-pedestrian off-road trail through Jacksonville’s urban core. This trail also includes two urban creek restoration projects that use a natural channel design. The 30 miles of trail and two urban creeks will require extensive landscape maintenance. Sage Growth Solutions was hired to develop and support the implementation of a landscape maintenance training program. 

Challenge: Landscaping is neither lucrative nor easy work, especially in Florida, making recruitment difficult. Across the state, there is a labor shortage for landscape professionals and specially trained professionals, and Groundwork would only need two to three part-time employees in the first few years. Funding a training program for such a small group would be difficult. Therefore, the training needed to include more people than Groundwork would hire and to provide participants with marketable skills that would make them hirable in the industry at large. Groundwork did not have the capacity to develop a landscaping curriculum for the program. It is also very difficult for nonprofits and cities to find sustainable funding for maintenance. Lastly, Groundwork had to be very cognizant of how they are serving and supporting the disinvested communities where they are building the trail. 

Opportunity: Maintenance is difficult to fund, but there are multiple highly competitive funding sources for workforce development programs.  Instead of seeking funding to train and hire two to three individuals, Sage Growth Solutions developed a green workforce development program that targeted recruitment within Groundwork’s service area. 

After extensive research, Sage identified CareerSource of Northeast Florida (CareerSource), the Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association (FNGLA), the University of North Florida’s Botanical Garden (UNF), and Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) as the key partners to execute workforce development program. Partnering with FNGLA gave Groundwork access to industry and state-accredited landscape maintenance curriculum, as well as instructors. Because UNF is FNGLA’s northeast Florida testing site, collaborating with UNF provided Groundwork access to classroom space, field training in the Botanical Garden, and tools and equipment such as lawnmowers to train the students on.  FSCJ provided additional classroom space and access to a computer lab. CareerSource provided professional development and soft skills curriculum and training for the program. 

1. Solution: The Emerald Trail Stewards Landscape Maintenance program was developed and executed through partnerships with CareerSource, FNGLA, UNF, and FSCJ. Using the strengths of these organizations, Sage developed a six-month hands-on paid landscape training program targeting individuals underrepresented in the landscaping industry. Recruitment targeted adults within Groundwork’s service area, specifically going through partner organizations that work with “hard to hire” individuals and students. At the end of the program, successful participants earned two entry-level certifications from FNGLA in horticulture and landscape maintenance and installation.

Sage coordinated the initial logistics and implementation of the program and provided Groundwork with a program design that included the following components:

• A comprehensive plan that detailed the who, what, when, why, and how
• Recruitment strategy
• Program delivery tools
  • Student and instructor handbooks
  • Program schedule
  • Budget tracking tool
  • Retention plan
• Program evaluation strategy with evaluation tools

The successful collaboration between these organizations allowed each organization to work within its niche of excellence, reduce costs by sharing resources, and expand the reach of their organization’s mission.