National Governor’s Association Visit






In late November, our region hosted the National Governors’ Conference. This event, produced by Governor Engler, brought governors and their staff from around the country to the SEMCA service region.



On one of the conference days, November 29th, SEMCA offered the attendees of the conference a chance to learn about the Michigan Works! One Stop system.



Once they arrived, tour participants were escorted to the Job Club, where they met Case Manager Red Varner. He explained how MichiganWorks! helps match employers with job seekers and how we work to eliminate employment barriers for people who are looking for work.








Janice Wilhelm (seated left), ETD Employability Skills Instructor for the Workfirst Program, explains the resource center to visitors from the Governors’ conference. (left to right) Booker T. Graves, Executive Director, Office of Workforce Development, Denver Colorado; Mark Troppe, Director, Economic & Workforce Development National Center on Education and the Economy, Washington DC; and Marcia Watson from MDCD.





The tour progressed to the Resource Center where the tour participants were walked through the process of entering the One Stop system and using the Job Talent Bank.










SEMCA Executive Director, John B. O’Reilly, Jr. was on hand at ETD to explain the Michigan Works! system and answer questions.		

There were a lot of questions asked. Attendees were curious as to how the partnerships work between the different agencies. They wanted to know about funding, how clients are treated, how quickly people can be helped with training, and how accessible the system is to business owners.



Once all of the questions were answered, the tour moved to our next stop, the Ford Fairlane Training Center.







The tour of this beautiful new facility was quite impressive. The campus holds 29 classrooms that can accommodate 2,000 students at one time.



Ford not only trains its’ own employees here, but also offers evening classes to the public.


 		




Our visitors spoke with Rod Dewberry (facing the camera) whose company uses the Wayne 
Service Center to find workers.



People can receive training from this facility without ever walking through the doors. Attendees were treated to a viewing of an actual distance learning session. In addition to this, Ford is beginning to build on-line courses with universities across the country.



Facilities like this one are the wave of the future. Ford realizes the advantages of keeping Michigan’s workforce trained in the latest technology.


 
Ford representative Tim Caldwell boasted “We can handle any type of training at anytime.”












Tour attendees at the Fairlane Training Center South.		

From here the tour moved across Evergreen to Henry Ford Community College, to learn about our region’s new M-TEC Center (see the article M-TEC Ground Breaking). Here the attendees enjoyed a working lunch where Michigan’s state funded workforce development initiatives where discussed.


 
The governors and their staff were heard to comment very favorably on the Michigan Works! system. One attendee stated that she usually tours systems that are touted to be “models” and never live up to her expectations. She stated that the Michigan Works! system was an exception to her past experiences.



Everyone thanked SEMCA for giving them new ideas for improving the workforce and economic development of their states.












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