TAMPA, Fla. – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a news conference Tuesday morning in Tampa alongside First Lady Casey DeSantis to highlight Hope Florida’s success in connecting Floridians with job opportunities.
During the news conference, Gov. DeSantis said 500 employers are now offering jobs through Hope Florida, thanks to a partnership with all 21 local workforce boards that help connect Floridians with employment.
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“There are businesses that want to hire people that work hard, but a lot of times, folks don’t know where to turn, and they just don’t know what’s all out there. And so that’s really where Hope Florida’s partnership between CareerSource Florida and the Florida Chamber of Commerce comes in,” DeSantis said.
Watch DeSantis’ remarks below
According to DeSantis, to date, 3,000 Floridians have secured employment through Hope Florida.
First Lady Casey DeSantis, who spearheaded the initiative, also touted Hope Florida.
“Hope Florida isn’t an agency, it’s a rewiring of how government operates,” Casey DeSantis said.
Hope Florida has been at the center of a controversy over a $10 million donation the foundation received from a Medicaid managed-care company’s $67 million settlement with the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
RELATED | Hope Florida: A timeline of how a DeSantis-backed state charity was accused of wrongdoing
Tuesday’s news conference came on the same day a public records custodian in the office of Second Judicial Circuit State Attorney Jack Campbell confirmed the existence of “an open, on-going investigation” into Hope Florida.
When questioned by reporters during the news conference, the governor defended the initiative.
“I believe in this program deeply and I stand by it 100%,” DeSantis said.