The eight-county region of West Michigan has a strategy for growing the region’s economy developed in large part by The Right Place, Inc., a regional nonprofit economic development organization supported through investments from the private and public sector. The Right Place’s strategy is based on market research and extensive interviews and focus groups with regional stakeholders. The current five-year plan targets life sciences, advanced manufacturing, sustainable practices, renewable energy, and aerospace/defense for innovation and growth, setting goals for new capital investment, new jobs, new payroll, and number of companies assisted. There is also an initiative underway to align the business attraction efforts of 5 of the region’s key economic development organization: The Right Place, Inc., Lakeshore Advantage, Battle Creek Unlimited, Southwest Michigan First and Newaygo County Economic Development Office.

Focusing on the region’s quality of life efforts, the West Michigan Strategic Alliance (WMSA) has developed a set of 18 Regional Indicators that measure trends in economic prosperity, environmental integrity and social justice, benchmarked against 26 similar regions across the U.S. The West Michigan Vital Signs report is published annually and used by multiple organizations to measure progress and identify priorities for the coming year. An annual State of Region event gathers over 400 participants from business, government and other institutions, with 80 percent of the audience made up of key decision-makers.

Building on the work done under the West Michigan WIRED grant, the West Michigan Strategic Alliance has fostered the formation of a coalition of CEOs to drive a more strategic and systemic approach to talent development and retention in the region. Each of the 50 firms currently participating in the TALENT 2025 initiative has committed $5,000 per year for 3-years to support the initiative.

The TALENT 2025 board has set a goal of achieving 60 percent of the population age 25 or older having a post secondary credential by 2025 as its primary focus. The organization’s primary functions are to illuminate, evaluate and advocate for scalable change. Improving college attainment has also been the top priority identified by regional leaders for the past three years, while former Michigan Governor, Jennifer Granholm, set a goal of doubling the number of college graduates living and working in Michigan. The TALENT 2025 board plans to work closely with college presidents in the region, and with the national Talent Dividend network of 23 cities all striving to increase college graduation rates, organized by CEOs for Cities.

Another priority for the region is raising the level of basic skills in the region’s workforce to expand individual access to college and to job-training opportunities that are part of Michigan’s mainstream No Worker Left Behind Program. Changes in state policy now require individuals to have a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) and/or a Michigan National Career Readiness Certificate as a pre-requisite for further training. Using AWI funds, the West Michigan Strategic Alliance has partnered with the Literacy Center of West Michigan and Grand Rapids Community College to take a successful program that provides foundational skills for occupational and post-secondary training currently offered in one county and replicate it throughout the region, in collaboration with four community colleges. The plan is to expand the pool of workers with foundational skills that can feed into the mainstream occupational and post-secondary training programs.

WMSA is currently working with the Adult Learner Providers of West Michigan group to contract with the Frost Center of Hope College to survey and map the current education and skill levels and needs of the region’s workforce that do not have high school diplomas or GEDs. The latest U.S. Census data indicate that in Ottawa County (the pilot county for the Literacy to Work Initiative) alone there are more than 35,000 individuals over the age of 25 who lack a high school diploma. In the West Michigan region in general, there are more than 120,000 individuals who lack this basic credential.

The analysis will indicate where the greatest need for services is, the capacity in current organizations to deliver the services, the number of GEDs earned in each county, and the number of students successfully transitioned into post-secondary education and/or employment. Once the data has been gathered and analyzed, WMSA will be able to determine how to best collaborate with adult education providers to increase capacity and assist in the up-skilling of the region’s workforce by helping them not only complete adult education programs, but also by assisting in the transition to post-secondary education, training programs, and/or employment opportunities. The Literacy to Work Initiative brings formerly “independent” programs together around adult learners along with an individualized approach through the use of Career Coaches to assist students in the transition process from adult education programs to post-secondary education and/or employment.