Educators, economic developers look to improve workforce talent in Lenawee County

ADRIAN — Both four-year higher education institutions in Lenawee County and K-12 educators are coming together with economic development officials to better develop talent for local employers.

The Align Lenawee Talent Consortium is coordinating the effort. Align is the workforce development arm of Lenawee Now, the county's economic development organization. Lenawee Now started Align in 2014 to help address talent issues, which greatly impact the economic development of a region, a news release said.

“Talent is the number one factor that companies are looking for when they identify a new community to put down roots,” Tim Robinson, interim executive director of Lenawee Now, said in the release. “If organizations don’t see a good workforce development system in place that will supply them with talent for years to come, they will look somewhere else.”

Often in competition for students, Adrian College and Siena Heights University came together to help resolve the issue plaguing most county employers by creating several certifications, a departure from their tradition of offering mostly degreed programs.

“Siena Heights University is thrilled to be collaborating with Align Lenawee and Adrian College,” Siena Heights University President Sister Peg Albert said. "Together we can make a difference in people’s lives by moving their career forward and impacting the growth of our local community.”

Albert noted that the partnership will assist in strengthening the local workforce and help build a talent pool that will provide solutions for almost every industry in the county.

“These certificates will provide students a path to high-paying careers in high-demand jobs with the flexibility our students and professionals need,” said Jeffrey Docking, president of Adrian College. “We are thankful for all those who worked together on the certificate program, creating a new pipeline of local talent to allow our businesses to grow and thrive.”

That was the intent of the effort — to allow local businesses to grow and thrive. Therefore, the Align team convened the help of local business owners, Lenawee Intermediate School District Tech Center teachers and other K-12 educators throughout the county to collaborate to build several exposure and skill-building programs for middleand high school students in the areas of high-demand jobs across several industries.

“This 'laddered’ approach starts in middle school, carries through high school and ends in an adultcertification, allowing recent graduates to enter the workforce sooner than they would after pursuing afour-year degree,” said Randy Yagiela, director of the Align Lenawee Talent Consortium.

The three-tiered talent pipeline ladder that Yagiela references was developed for each of the followingareas: accounting, applied computing, cybersecurity, digital marketing, early childhood education,entrepreneurship, future educators, health care, IT/data management, project management and webdevelopment. Other career fields may be added.

“Ideally, with our youth, we’d like to start to introduce them to some of these hot job areas because they’re all in areas of high demand, high wage and high skill,” LISD Superintendent Mark Haag said. “Some of our best students get bored, and I think these lessons, if you really look at them, offer an opportunity to integrate some new things into the classroom that might spark a student who hasn’t been sparked before.”

To aid teachers in using the curriculum in their classrooms, the Align team, with the help of several school personnel, has identified the state teaching standards that apply to the newly built curriculum at the middle school and high school level, allowing teachers to easily incorporate the curriculum while still reaching their teaching goals.

The curriculum was piloted in several different schools and situations to help refine it. The project management curriculum was piloted at the LISD Middle College, Lenawee Christian School, an LISD summer camp and at Springbrook Middle School.

"I really appreciate what (the subject matter expert) was able to put together materials-wise," Nicole Holden, Springbrook Middle School teacher, said. “Having her put together the lessons that were the foundation for what we did and allowing me to then put my own spin on things, knowing my students, was a wonderful experience.”

Holden would encourage other teachers to use the materials created from these joint efforts.

“Everybody says it takes a village, and this is a great way for us all to come together to make sure that our students know they are part of our community and that they matter and that their growth matters,” she said.

The development of these lessons was funded through a multiyear Marshall Plan Talent Fund grant provided by the state of Michigan to the LISD and executed by Align.

“I think I can speak on behalf of all our districts to say we were very excited to land the Marshall Plan grant here in Lenawee County,” Haag added. “We think we’re probably the only ones in the state doing this type of work.”

ProMedica’s Charles and Virgina Hickman Hospital in Adrian accounts for about 20% of all job openings in the county. Therefore, hospital president Dr. Julie Yaroch was excited to hear about the programming for youth.

“If we can collaborate with the schools and they can identify students that may have a passion for what we do,” she said, “if we can form those connections earlier on, that’s a win for both of us.”

"It’s not a long process to become part of the health care field," Yaroch said. "There are a lot of short-term programs that will get you the education and/or certificate and licensure needed. It only takes an additional 12 weeks after you get your high school degree to become a phlebotomist. And what you start as your job in health care is not necessarily where you finish. There is a lot of opportunity to evolve.”

Through these programs, Align is not discouraging students from going to college, said Sheila Blair, manager of Align.

"The goal of the certification development is to get people into the workforce faster after high school graduation so they can establish what they want to do and then go to college to advance their position,” she said.

“Student loan debt is weighing on the economy these days. It’s staggering,” early childhood development expert Jennifer Haeussler, a professor at Siena Heights University, said. “Not all people belong in college; it’s OK to go to a technical school or graduate from high school and learn on the job.”

Haeussler said that student brain development changes when they are exposed to career options at an early age.

“If we start early, at the middle school level, exploring a variety of career options, it helps students realize that their gifts and talents can become their career; it helps them become focused,” she said.

Blair said, while the adult certification programs were already going live at AC and SHU starting this fall, the middle and high school curriculum would be rolled out to teachers and districts this fall through several events for teachers, counselors, principals and superintendents. The first special event will be for middle school teachers on Oct. 4.

“We are very excited about this rollout and want to make it fun and easy for teachers to incorporate the materials into their existing classroom time,” she said. “We’re going to ask our subject matter experts to work with teachers directly to make it as simple and natural as possible to use the lessons.”

To that end, Blair said the new certifications developed under the Marshall Plan are just another piece of the Lenawee County Workforce Development System, which includes Align’s new Learning Management System — an online training solution — it will be launching later this summer along with K-12 schools, the Tech Center, Southern Michigan Center for Science and Industry (SMCSI) in Hudson, and AC and SHU. Align also is convening training partners and certification providers for area businesses to conduct employee and leadership training.

To convey to parents, students and school personnel the benefits of early exposure to career options, Align has developed a short video that explains the benefits at youtu.be/rRnoK2ngGtk

“Align’s design team and task force are moving forward to create a communitywide workforce development center,” Yagiela said. The center would be an adult training space where Align hopes to provide best-in-class talent development solutions across all industries.

For more information about Align training, certification or other efforts, contact Blair at sblair@lenaweenow.org.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Educators, economic developers work to improve workforce talent