Florida Panel Brainstorms on Space Coast Jobs; Now it's Your Turn

A group of Florida officials gathered Saturday in Brevard County to discuss ideas for the Presidential Task Force on Space Industry Workforce and Economic Development.

Among the proposals: supporting small businesses and new entrepreneurs, encouraging additional federal procurement work and ensuring that policies are in place to maximize the growth of emerging industries.

The Space Coast faces the loss of 15,000 direct and indirect jobs as a result of the retirement of the space shuttle program.

We must explore every possible option for creating new job opportunities along the Space Coast to preserve our communitys highly skilled workforce, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, told the local panel, which included Space Florida President Frank DiBello, President and CEO of Space Coast EDC Lynda Weatherman, Brevard Workforce President Lisa Rice and Dale Ketcham, consultant for Spaceport Research and Technical Institute at the University of Central Florida.

The national Task Force on Space Industry Workforce and Economic Development was established by President Barack Obama earlier this year and is co-chaired by Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

Members of the public are encouraged to provide ideas and feedback through the task forces Web site.

Watch Sunshine State News this week to learn how a new Brevard County company plans to parlay space industry know-how into cutting-edge automobile development.