Displaying items tagged: Grand Rapids Community College

GRAND RAPIDS — West Michigan workforce development leaders say Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s latest budget proposal should include a greater focus on short-term training programs and community organizations currently excluded from state-funded talent initiatives.

GRAND RAPIDS — Grand Rapids Community College is building a first-of-its-kind automation and robotics manufacturing training center in West Michigan, thanks to a recently secured $1 million federal grant.

Charles Lepper started this week as the 11th president of Grand Rapids Community College, succeeding Bill Pink, who took a job in July 2022 as the president of Ferris State University.

University of Michigan Health-West will help nursing students at Grand Rapids Community College pay for their training through a new partnership designed to address an acute nursing shortage.

GRAND RAPIDS — Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist announced today in Grand Rapids that an additional $6 million in grant funding will be available to qualifying students in the Michigan Reconnect program to cover unexpected costs to help students complete their education. 

People in the News: A roundup of new hires, promotions and awards in West Michigan.

Grand Rapids Community College and workforce development organization West Michigan Works! have launched a program aiming to make big strides in preparing participants for the future of manufacturing.

GRAND RAPIDS — A hub for talent recruitment, skills development and job placement is expected to open early next year in Grand Rapids in hopes of filling the workforce pipeline for West Michigan construction jobs.

As the new class of students arrived at Northview Next this year, they may have noticed some new advanced manufacturing training tools. 

Michigan’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion and submission rates decreased for the second year in a row by nearly 5 percent, indicating lower college enrollment and ongoing challenges for the already sparse talent pipeline. 

GRAND RAPIDS — Rock band Metallica continues to invest in a unique welding program that it was instrumental in launching at Grand Rapids Community College.

GRAND RAPIDS — Jill Biden visited Grand Rapids Community College Thursday as part of the Biden administration’s push to partner with community colleges to get students vaccinated against COVID-19.

Michigan Economic Development Corp. announced a transition in leadership last week that will bring economic development expertise from the bayous of Louisiana to the peninsulas of Michigan.

West Michigan community colleges saw thousands of applications through the Futures for Frontliners program unveiled by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year to cover tuition for workers deemed essential during COVID-19 shutdown orders.

Davenport University has appointed Amy Mansfield as the new dean of the Donald W. Maine College of Business and the College of Technology.

GRAND RAPIDS — Randy Thelen describes the COVID-19 pandemic as an “inflection point” that can shift the course of economic development in West Michigan.

West Michigan’s construction industry has long faced a talent shortage fueled by a worker exodus during the 2008 recession, stigma around going into skilled trades, and firms failing to recruit a diverse workforce. 

GRAND RAPIDS — A youth employment program will launch this summer, employing 1,000 Grand Rapids residents ages 15-21. 

GRAND RAPIDS — Grand Rapids Community College is one of 20 colleges nationwide to receive a grant from the United States Department of Labor to provide at-risk youth with job skills training and other educational opportunities.

A new program aims to give frontline workers in the COVID-19 pandemic a pathway into higher education. 

A line in Bronson Methodist Hospital’s emergency state filing to temporarily add 300 beds epitomizes the main challenge for boosting capacity for an expected surge in COVID-19 patients in the coming weeks.

The talent needs of employers are a constantly moving target that requires companies to foster and maintain close ties with educators to keep up with the demands of the 21st century economy. 

As one of the first students to graduate from a workforce development program funded by heavy metal band Metallica, Krista Steffens developed skills that sparked her creativity and fueled under her career.

This is the growth report for January 18, 2020.

Students who attend high school in Grand Rapids will soon be able to continue their education for free at Grand Rapids Community College.

Two months after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an unprecedented number of line-item vetoes to the state Legislature’s budget plan, $37.3 million for statewide workforce development programs remains unfunded. 

At a state-of-the-art machine tool laboratory in downtown Grand Rapids, a group of non-technical sales professionals learns about carbide, a compound made from carbon and metal, as well as takes in lessons about radial chip thinning, blueprinting and how tool cutting works.

GRAND RAPIDS — The inequities women face in daily life are often much worse for women who are incarcerated. 

Growth report for Sept. 28, 2019.

KALAMAZOO — In the four years since Kalamazoo Valley Community College launched its sustainable brewing program, it could use student-made beers for tastings and instructional purposes, but not offer it for sale in its on-campus full-service restaurant.