Why business owners in South Miami-Dade want to set up a worker pipeline

Jose Rangel moved to the United States from Venezuela when he was 14. A few years later, he was ready to work.

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Getting a job can be hard, but Rangel found a way to make it happen: He became an apprentice.

Rangel, who lives in Cutler Bay, is learning the world of auto tech, and he credits an apprenticeship program at Bean Automotive Group for the career boost.

“After I graduated from high school, I was hopping around jobs for a very long time until friends put me in contact with Bean Automotive,” said the 26-year-old Rangel, who is apprenticing as an auto technician.

Rangel’s success story is a focal point of the South Miami-Dade business community, where business owners want to develop a talent pipeline to fill jobs and make money. On Thursday, local business leaders gathered at Miami Dade College’s Homestead campus to discuss how apprenticeships can help create jobs in the area.

Finding a job in South Miami-Dade can be difficult because of its distance from Miami, and CareerSource South Florida Executive Director Rick Beasley wants to bridge that gap. Many jobseekers even move away from South Miami-Dade in pursuit of employment, he said.

“Here in South Dade, we have great folks that live here, but we aren’t connecting them to where the jobs are at,” he said.

CareerSource Florida, a statewide workforce policy board, wants to change that. The organization is partnering with Miami Dade College to help employers find participants for apprenticeship programs in South Miami-Dade. These apprenticeships allow workers to gain work experience and find jobs in industries that include hospitality, construction and aviation.

Beasley said that working with CareerSource can help jobseekers and employers alike.

“We can connect them with the Beacon Council and other resources like banks,” he said, referring to Miami-Dade’s economic development organization.

Through the new focus on South Miami-Dade, Beasley also wants employers to understand the benefits of employing people from the area.

The money is available to businesses and Beasley wants business owners to take advantage of it.

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A U.S. Department of Labor waiver approved for Florida allows CareerSource to offer employers almost all of the wages paid to apprentices throughout Florida and all of the wages paid to employees in opportunity zones. Those zones cover economically distressed communities targeted for job creation and private investment. South Miami-Dade has four opportunity zones.

“CareerSource has helped us to identify these employees and provide the training and funds they need to continue their careers,” said Silvia Rondon, Bean Automotive Group’s human resources director.

Bean Automotive Group has been the parent company to four car dealerships in South Miami-Dade since 1965. Rondon credits her company’s partnership with allowing it to make a bigger impact in the community. Nearly 30% of Bean Automotive Group employees live in Homestead.

“We have been able to secure funding for the past five years,” Rondon said.

Alexia Rolle, the dean of career and technical education at Miami Dade College, has seen how apprenticeships can change lives. She has a waiting list of 2,000 people who want to participate in an apprenticeship.

“At Miami Dade College, we decided to continue meeting the community and students where they are,” she said. “An apprenticeship program is not an internship. It is aligned with a career.”

Rolle emphasized that apprentices in MDC’s programs don’t have to pay for the costs of classes or equipment thanks to state and federal grants.

“They have no tuition,” she said. “The apprentices registered in our programs at Miami Dade College do not pay tuition at all. Imagine being a full-time employee with benefits receiving your wage and attending Miami Dade College for free.”

The opportunity to learn from professionals in the field about working on engines and also learning from Miami-Dade College professors has been a huge benefit, said Rangel, the auto tech.

Looking ahead, Rangel is confident that the apprenticeship will lead to a solid career in the automotive industry after he completes the program in April 2027.

“I know the skills that I’m learning,” he said, “will sustain me for a long time.”

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For more information about apprenticeships, go to mdc.edu/apprenticeships/