Lenawee Now's development director, Randy Yagiela, earns Innovation Fellowship honor

Brad Heineman, The Daily Telegram
·3 min read

ADRIAN — For his efforts to bring a unified resource center to Lenawee County that addresses the gap in workforce training and local career development, Lenawee Now’s development director was recently awarded an Innovation Fellowship by Michigan State University’s Economic Development Administration University Center for Regional Economic Innovation.

Randy Yagiela, who has spent 25 years with Lenawee Now, has been awarded more than $19 million during that time in grants for workforce development, education and nonprofit programs, a news release from Lenawee Now said. In January, he earned the Innovation Fellowship honor, which was established in 2016 to attract and support top champions in communities and organizations that tackle tough economic development issues communities face every day.

Lenawee Now development director Randy Yagiela
Lenawee Now development director Randy Yagiela

“Innovation Fellows provide on-the-ground support and coordination to move concepts to actions, implementing new economic development tools, models and policies,” Lenawee Now’s news release said.

As an REI, Yagiela is part of a local team seeking to bring a physical workforce development center to Lenawee County. The path to making that workforce center a reality took a step forward at the beginning of the new year when investors closed on the purchase of the Restore World Church in Adrian along East Church Street. Plans are in motion to use the church building as Lenawee County’s Align Center for Workforce Development. It will be operated and managed by Lenawee Now, a nonprofit organization dedicated to economic and business expansion throughout Lenawee County.

More: New Align Center for Workforce Development location announced; will be housed in east Adrian

Restore World Church will continue to operate in the same building even after ownership changes, Lenawee Now previously announced. It has been working in the community through its various outreach programs to reach local men, women and youth. While it has migrated its religious services to its Ypsilanti location, 2146 Moeller Ave., the ministry, led by Pastors Claude and Rosa Bevier, will still be active in Adrian.

The building that currently houses Restore World Church in east Adrian, 430 E. Church St., is pictured. Leaders from Lenawee County’s Align Center for Workforce Development recently announced they will soon purchase the existing church building and transform it into a workforce development center complete with training classrooms, a community hall, consulting services, office rental space, childcare and more.

As a consultant and certified workforce development professional, Yagiela will help facilitate planning sessions at the Align Center, which intends to offer empowerment and training programs in a shared space by housing multiple organizations in a collaborative culture, Lenawee Now explained.

The goals of the center include producing unified client pathways and employer-centric workforce certification while addressing the talent gap in workforce training and local career development, especially for distressed and nontraditional clients.

“Align is focusing on assisting adults who need reskilling and have not had a workforce center with staff dedicated to guide them; kindergaten-12th grade graduates needing certifications for local careers; and employers that will utilize the training offered to advance their competitiveness,” Lenawee Now said.

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Yagiela, who earned his master’s degree from Eastern Michigan University in interdisciplinary technology, said he credits the work of many stakeholders in the success of the Align Center for Workforce Development including Tom Gannon, a consultant who led the design team that created the business plan; Sheila Blair, the executive director of the Align Center; Bill Blackerby, retired business professor from Siena Heights University; and Chuck Chase, local sales expert who mentored the design team effort.

A community task force assisted in the planning of the workforce center, Lenawee Now said.

Since 2011, Yagiela has owned and operated Transformation Connection, which focuses on managing projects, grant writing and creating constructive changes within companies and organizations.

Discussions of producing a talent system like the Align Center started around 2017 under the leadership of Jim Van Doren, former executive director of Lenawee Now. The organization’s current executive director, Pat Farver, said he believes collaboration is central to solving Lenawee County’s workforce challenges and many other challenges to the local economy.

— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Lenawee Now's development director earns Innovation Fellowship honor