St. Cloud Economic Director Antranette Forbes brought together an all-star group of economic development, business, and government leaders to Osceola Heritage Park last week to “forecast” St. Cloud’s economic future.
The forecast? It’s sunny.
Speaker Neil Hamilton, Vice President of Research& Strategy for the Orlando Economic Partnership delivered the bottom line. In 2023, the Orlando-Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes St. Cloud, was the sixth fasted growing in the U.S. Despite all of the large-scale turbulence of two ongoing wars, the current administration’s insistence on leveling the tariff playing field, even with our closest allies and trading partners, and the lingering effects of inflation, he predicted modest growth for the U.S. as a whole, a slightly better growth rate for Florida, and an even better rate for Osceola County/St. Cloud. He further predicted the second half of 2025 would be noticeably strong.
“The creation of 200 manufacturing jobs in St. Cloud since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is significant,” Hamilton said.
Nilda Blanco, Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for CareerSource Central Florida, also delivered a message of good news and some challenges. While St. Cloud’s workforce is young, and 30% of the city’s residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher, many young people are in need of tutoring and mentoring. Blanco encouraged the business community to get involved in education. She noted that the Osceola Prosper program, which Osceola County funds area high school graduates to attend Valencia College or Osceola Technical College (oTech) at no cost, was a great benefit to families and area businesses. Over 7,000 of the County’s high school graduates have participated in the program, propelling the county to No. 4 out of Florida’s 67 counties for college entry.
In the first of two panel discussions, Frida Bahja of Experience Kissimmee, Sam Haught of Wild Florida, and Robb Larson of Osceola Heritage Park responded to questions on the state of the area’s tourism and hospitality industry. The concensus seemed to be that while domestic travel was strong, international visitors, who spend at a higher rate, had not returned at the same level as prior to the pandemic.
The final panel included Brian Wetzel of Orlando Health St. Cloud, Pedro Turushina of the Hispanic Chamber, and John Fremstad of the Orlando Utilities Commission. All reported significant growth in their respective areas, with attracting and retaining a quality workforce generally the most significant challenge. Fremstad left the audience with the good news that the area was well situated with excess, economical power generation capacity, a major attraction to high-tech industries, including data centers.
