More than 1,650 workers across Michigan’s Great Southwest will get advanced training to upgrade their skills thanks to the hard work of team Kinexus and the money they’ve secured from Michigan’s Going Pro Talent Fund.
We first gave you the big picture story of that here on Moody on the Market on the day after Christmas, but now we’re getting further detail from Kinexus on what will take place across the region for 43 local employers who sought to enhance their workforce through those training grants.
Here’s a link to the original story last month:
Now, Kinexus President & CEO Todd Gustafson has further detail, noting, “The money will supplement the costs for 1,650 new and incumbent workers to upgrade their skills in manufacturing, healthcare, and hospitality related trainings, which will help employers be more competitive.” Gustafson adds, “As our region has declined in population, enhancing the skills of the existing talent pool becomes imperative. The Going Pro Talent Fund is critical to the efforts in our region to address this challenge while meeting the current and future needs of our employers.”
Of the manufacturing companies that submitted grants, Colson Group has already been awarded funds to train their team.
LouAnn Stelter is HR Coordinator at Colson Group. She tells us, “This is our 2nd year receiving training dollars from the Going PRO Talent Fund. Last year, we were able to train 147 people at our St. Joseph facility and this year, we plan to train 184 more with the $157,000 we have been awarded. We are excited to utilize this money to upskill and strengthen our team and increase our ability to serve our customers more efficiently.” Stelter notes, “Without the Going Pro Talent Fund or the team at Kinexus, we would not be able to accomplish what we would like to achieve for the coming year.”
Kinexus will work with local training providers, such as Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (MTTC), Lake Michigan College, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, and Southwestern Michigan College to deliver the training resulting from the grants.
Jamie Headley is Sr. Business Solutions Manager at the MMTC. Headley says, “The Center is excited to work with companies again this year and help them grow and prosper,” and adds, “Last year our programs helped clients create $214-million in sales, $85-million in cost savings and almost 12,000 jobs retained. We are looking forward to even bigger impacts in 2019!”
Kinexus has additional resources to help existing companies develop trainings, support growth and retain employees. Additional grants may become available throughout the year. For more information, contact Jeff Hannan, Director of Business Solutions at 269-927-1064, ext. 1171 or via email at hannanj@kinexus.org.
Kinexus is an organization that invests its time and resources into creating integrated solutions for business, workforce, and community challenges to promote economic vitality in the Southwest Michigan region. For more information, visit www.Kinexus.org, follow along on Twitter @KinexusGroup or “like” them on Facebook @KinexusGroup.
