On January 7, at its game against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Tampa Bay Lightning gave Yvonne Fry its Community Hero Award for her work in founding and leading Workforce Development Partners. “The Tampa Bay Lightning is such an incredible, generous organization that wants to invest in non-profits,” Fry said. “I am so thankful they recognized my work.”
According to the Workforce Development Partners website, in 2015, Fry, and the business community in Plant City, launched the non-profit Workforce Development Partners as an organic grassroots effort to fulfill businesses’ workforce needs through connecting with graduating seniors. The organization started with one job fair at Plant City High School. The enthusiasm of the students, employers, and teachers made it obvious there was a hunger for a program like this that increased the opportunities available for students’ after graduating from high school. So, Fry took the program beyond Plant City. Workforce Development Partners has been such a success, its curriculum and programs are used in all of the high schools, career, and exceptional centers in Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS). Among other things, the curriculum teaches students soft skills like how to dress and how to interview for jobs to better prepare them to gain good careers.
Fry enthusiastically praised the work of the team around her for lending their talents to make the organization work and accomplish so much. “I feel strongly about people I work with and what they mean to Workforce Development Partners,” she said.
The Tampa Bay Lightning Community Heroes Program is the chief philanthropic activity of the Lightning Foundation and has been praised for its innovative contributions throughout the Tampa Bay region. The initiative celebrates “grassroots heroes whose noble efforts make a positive impact in our community,” according to the team’s website. At each of the Lightning’s home hockey games, the Community Hero program celebrates a local hero and donates to a non-profit charity of their choice. Celebrating the hero has become a “beloved signature moment at our home games.”
During the game, the Lightning’s Foundation showed a video that told the story of what Fry has done through Workforce Development Partners to help graduating high school seniors get good jobs in local communities. After the video, the Foundation presented Fry with a $50,000 check for her organization. One of the reasons the Lightning does this at games is to inspire fans to get involved in actions to give back to the community.
“It was absolute magic to be a part of the game,” Fry said. “I will never forget it. Their investment is so meaningful for our work.”
One of the special things about the partnership between the schools, the companies, and Workforce Development Partners is, multiple times throughout the school year, Fry arranges meetings in which business leaders visit schools to meet with education officials to discuss job trends and current opportunities. These have been “super beneficial,” Warren Brooks, Workforce Connections Officer for Hillsborough County Public Schools said. “It is a great way for the business community to allow the officers at schools to know the growth and the things that are coming.”
During the 2023-2024 school year, more than 2,000 students took tours of 72 businesses and nine training partners. More than 7,000 students learned about 16 different industries through business panels, and 2,000 students began the hiring process with 271 Workforce Development partner companies and organizations.
The grant the Lightning gave to Fry will go toward expanding resources for students and families. It will also support the creation of additional curriculum lessons.
Given her success, it comes as no surprise the News Service of Florida Impact Awards also recently recognized Fry for the tremendous aid she has given to students through her work in Hillsborough County. “Young people are vital to the community,” Fry commented. “It is important to love on them and connect with them.”