Spotlight: Florida
Tailored to the Needs of Florida Business
In 2024, Wellbeing & Equity Innovations and Cottage Four, LLC, partnered with the Florida Chamber Foundation's Future of Work project. Together we are scaling impact across the State of Florida and helping businesses identify, recruit and retain high-quality employees.
An Economy that Needs Talented Workers
Florida's red hot economy has created more jobs than can be filled - and the gap grows wider every day. At the same time, there are thousands of qualified people with criminal records looking for career opportunities.
Trainings for Businesses, by Businesses
In 2024 and 2025 Retaining Talent held large trainings across the state of Florida. These trainings were created by business leaders, for business leaders, decisionmakers, recruitment and talent professionals, legal departments, and C-suite executives.
Florida Department of Corrections: Where Innovation Happens
The Retaining Talent project trains businesses on how to hire people with criminal records. In this groundbreaking project, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Wellbeing Equity & Innovations, and Cottage Four help businesses hire people with criminal records safely, smartly, and to maximize ROI. Hear from Florida Department of Corrections staff, leadership, and the powerful testimonies from the inmates changing their lives with FDC every day - and making a safer and more prosperous Florida.
Innovative Partnerships and Safer Communities
Retaining Talent partnered with the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Wellbeing Equity & Innovations, and Cottage Four to create a groundbreaking workforce pipeline of people with criminal records for one of the nation's largest economies. Thanks to the leadership of the Florida Department of Corrections and education providers like Persevere, Florida has become a national model.
Florida's Second Chance Hiring Story
Florida has brought public safety, prosperity, and economic development together with a national model for second chance hiring. Led by innovative partnerships with the Florida Foundation for Correctional Excellence, programs like Persevere, and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Department of Corrections has shown the country a new way to recruit and retain talent.