BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- Some Hurricane Maria evacuees are doing whatever it takes to make things work in Central Florida -- that sometimes means starting all over again. 

  • Hurricane Maria evacuees having trouble finding jobs
  • CareerSource giving training in subjects like IT, cybersecurity
  • Register by emailing maria@careersourcebrevard.com

This is the case for Francisco Rodriguez, who’s been living in Brevard County for a few months. 

"I was working in Puerto Rico as a field technician for a computer repair company, but things were very slow after the hurricane,” Rodriguez said. 

He’s been busy looking for a job and employers aren’t calling back.

"Even though I've been working in IT support, I came to realize there's so much new technology,” Rodriguez said.

Technology moved fast for Rodriguez and all this time, his family is waiting back in Puerto Rico.

"I very, very much miss my wife and my kids,” Rodriguez said.

As a family, they decided it was better for Rodriguez to get settled in Florida before moving the whole gang.

"I'm practically re-inventing myself again. I just simply had to do it,” said Rodriguez about his new plans. 

Thanks to a grant from CareerSource Brevard, Rodriguez enrolled in a six-week program for IT and cyber security.

It's one of the many resources the organization has to offer evacuees from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands living in Brevard.

"Sending people to school, getting them certifications, helping them translate their certifications, we have on the job training opportunities, and we're teaching English as a second language,” explained Wendi Jo Bost, Project Coordinator at Career Source Brevard. 

Rodriguez is making sure he takes advantage of all those resources -- it’s much more than he could ever find back home.

"There's a lot of job employment out there, a lot of job opportunities. It's just a matter of applying yourself,” Rodriguez said. 

His motivation is to be able to reunite with his wife and kids.

"This is exactly the push I needed, to lift myself up and get some momentum," Rodriguez said.

CareerSource Brevard will soon be hosting welcome workshops in Spanish for all evacuees. The workshops are free of charge and will contain valuable information for all who just moved to Central Florida.

You can register by emailing maria@careersourcebrevard.com.