Caribe Refugee Program

Welcome to the CARIBE Refugee Program

The CARIBE Program is an Adult and Community Education project that provides free English language, GED, and Hi-Tec vocational training to recent Cuban, Haitian, and other entrants with refugee or asylee status. With an original goal of 200 student enrollments, this grant funded-program has counted over 7,500 individual enrollments since its inception, and has served students from 23 countries. Our goal is to recruit and serve all eligible adult refugees and entrants in Hillsborough County.

The CARIBE Program maintains three classroom sites in the county, each with a state-of-the-art computer lab to assist the students in English language and Workplace Readiness Skills instruction. The computer labs also are used to teach Introduction to Computers, Windows XP and Microsoft Office applications.

Eligible students may receive vouchers to pay for vocational training, tuition, materials and fees for programs offered at Erwin, Leary, Tampa Bay Tech and Brewster Technical Centers.

For information on Program eligibility and current day and evening class schedules for English language, GED, or vocational classes, simply call

(813) 231-1972

Se Habla Español

From the Program Manager's Desk:

Our Program’s success is directly tied to the combined efforts and talents of the professionals in Hillsborough County School’s Adult and Community Education, Vocational/Hi-Tec Education, Limited English Proficient Programs, and our many service-provider partners. We all share the belief that English language training is job preparation training—as necessary as any vocational class offering. Our reward is seeing our adult students progress and develop lifetime skills that enable them to achieve the American Dream.

Dave Schmidt

This Project is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement and administered by the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Disclaimers and Legal Information.