With the latest job numbers for Miami-Dade showing unemployment up for the third straight month, officials and businesses alike are hoping South Florida's relationship with the Pentagon can provide economic rescue.
"Jobs [are] what we need here in South Florida," said Barry Johnson, CEO of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. "And the partnership between business and the military is strong because we are blessed to have such a rich mixture of military installations here in South Florida."
Already, the military has an overall $4 billion economic impact on South Florida, providing more than 43,000 jobs while its members help dump an estimated $900 million directly into local businesses.
Friday, US Southern Command's top officer met with South Florida business professionals and politicians at an event hosted by the non-profit Beacon Council, whose Miami-Dade Defense Alliance's aim is to foster the business climate of Miami-Dade County.
"There’s a lot of opportunity to work with industry," said General Douglas Fraser, "but also to work from an inter-agency standpoint to help build capacity and capability throughout the region.
"So that’s what we are really talking about: how do we improve our ability to coordinate and cooperate with one another."
It was at such an event several years ago that Paul Kelly realized his Doral-based business could partner with the government.
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Now, he says his generator parts are found mostly on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and his 25 employees can be found hard at work.
"It has opened us the opportunity to do business with the department of defense, something that a small business in the aftermarket has never been able to do," Kelly enthused.
Florida's Lieutenant Governor Jennifer Carroll said the state must create an environment where these relationships can be furthered.
"The bottom line with regards to businesses is to get government out of the way," she said Friday, "and to show business how they can partner with government."
