KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The state of Michigan has announced grants totaling $4 million to provide young adults with a meaningful introduction to the world of work, including jobs skills, on-site, hybrid, and virtual career exploration and preparation activities, and earned income.
The Young Professionals program aligns with Michigan’s Sixty by 30 goal to increase the number of working-age adults with a skill certificate or college degree to 60 percent by 2030.
Young Professionals grants have been awarded to the state’s Michigan Works! network, which were selected through a Request for Proposals process. That includes $450,000 for Michigan Works! Southwest, which services Kalamazoo, Calhoun, St. Joseph, and Branch counties.
Michigan Works! Berrien, Cass, Van Buren received $247,973 from the grant.
“Michigan Works! strives to equip youth with essential skills, connecting them to employment and building a talent pipeline,” said Michigan Works! Southwest Director Jakki Bungart-Bibb. “Providing opportunities, such as the Young Professionals Initiative, creates an investment in the future for our local communities and helps open doors for youth to become powerful advocates for sustainable change.”
State officials say the Sixty by 30 goal seeks to build a better Michigan in three ways:
—Close the skills gap that poses the single greatest threat to the success of our businesses and our state’s prosperity. Jobs requiring skilled employees today, as well as jobs on the horizon, demand greater education and training than ever before. Increasingly, the best jobs require more than a high school diploma.
—Increase opportunity and Michiganders greater access to the education and skills that create opportunities for better jobs and bigger paychecks.
—Make Michigan more competitive for inclusive economic growth.
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