First Lady Casey DeSantis announces employment program with New College of Florida, DCF

Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis spoke at New College of Florida Thursday afternoon to announce a partnership between the college and the Florida Department of Children and Families.

DeSantis, whose husband was campaigning for president in South Carolina during the press conference, said New College would become the first state university to be an employment sponsor with Hope Florida, a program through the DCF that helps Floridians transition off of public assistance programs.

New College would hire people from the program in areas such as libraries, food service and administration, New College President Richard Corcoran said. The college would also offer, at minimum, two full-ride scholarships to people in the Hope Florida program.

"What we're talking about here today is people who are in Florida that are maybe looking for that opportunity for education and higher education and change their family and their trajectory for generations," Corcoran said.

It wasn't immediately clear when the program would start and how many people the college planned to hire from the Hope Florida program.

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Casey DeSantis announces DCF partnership with New College of Florida