Community Services
Summary of Services
The City’s national award-winning youth and young adults programs, Tallahassee Engaged in Meaningful Productivity for Opportunity youth (TEMPO), and the Tallahassee Future Leaders Academy (TFLA) is housed in the Department of Community Services. These programs directly combat the impacts of poverty by connecting local youth and young adults to education, employment, and workforce training opportunities. These City programs have achieved great success thus far. TFLA provided summer employment to more than 1,000 local high-school youth from 2015 to 2021. TEMPO has reached over 1,600 disconnected youth, ages 16-24, since 2017 while achieving a zero percent recidivism rate for program participants. The Department of Community Services also assists with local efforts to provide services to our homeless population.
TEMPO-Tallahassee Program Information
FY22
•Community Services has 10.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees and 4.0 temporary employees. FTEs increased by 1.0 from FY21 due to the reclassification of a temporary Other Personnel Services (OPS) position.
•As the TEMPO program expands its outreach efforts, the department will look to strengthen services through grant opportunities and community partnerships.
2-A-2: TFLA participants that have moved on to higher education, trade school, certification programs, or military over a five-year period.
The Tallahassee Future Leaders Academy (TFLA) is a premier, City-run leadership program that provides teens with mentorship, job readiness training, financial literacy education, and summer employment. The program is helping to develop future leaders who will navigate a global society and solve 21st-century challenges.
Roughly 1,000 youth have participated in TFLA since the program was created six years ago. To date, 68 participants have enrolled in higher education, 6 have joined the military, and 13 are employed. This innovative, eight-week program provides eligible youth with the opportunity to work at least 20 hours per week in a paid position. TFLA affords young people the opportunity to learn important job readiness skills, visit college campuses, gain financial literacy skills and learn how to be a connected member of our community. Participants also have the opportunity to work in a City department or with a local business partner. This opportunity has been critical for many young people to earn their first paycheck while putting work skills into practice.
Due to the COVID-19 global health pandemic, the TFLA program has been redesigned to engage participants virtually in 2020. Over 100 youth took part in the 8-week summer program, earning up to 120 hours of pay for taking part in virtual meetings and training, virtual college visits, resume creation, mock interviews, career exploration, online modules (i.e., financial literacy, funding higher education, soft skills, job-readiness skills), and certifications. The program will continue to use innovative engagement methods to ensure participants have the resources to seek educational and employment opportunities upon high school graduation.
