DETROIT – The Workforce Intelligence Network has been awarded a $6 million, four-year grant to train 900 southeast Michigan workers in robotics and automation careers through the Advance Michigan Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing Technology Education Collaborative.

The funding aligns with southeast Michigan’s White House designation as an Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership area, which prioritizes a 16-county region encompassing greater Detroit for federal investment from 17 federal departments and agencies.

AM-RAMTEC’s goal is to utilize funding to help increase the number of unemployed and underemployed, non-traditional, incumbent, and other workers receiving CERT (Certified Education Robotic Training) in the region. The Workforce Intelligence Network for Southeast Michigan (WIN), which convened the initiative, will manage AM-RAMTEC as part of a suite of efforts to align talent with employer and economic development needs in the 16-county area. The Southeast Michigan Community Alliance (SEMCA) will serve as the grant fiduciary.

“As the economy recovers, talent is becoming increasingly hard to find,” noted Lisa Katz, executive director, WIN. “These funds will help us dig deeper to support workers who might otherwise be left out of the economic recovery and connect them to a field that is in high demand, offers strong wages and opportunities for advancement.”

According to WIN, over the past decade, the region has recovered 11,614 robotics and automation jobs, increasing employment by 44.7 percent to 37,622 workers. Projections indicate an additional 1,500 net new jobs by 2026 with approximately 1,535 individuals needed every year to fill posts opened by turnover and retirements. Wages in this sector have increased by 30 percent over the past 10 years from $42,669 in 2010, to $55,328 annually in 2016.

As a part of the effort to support workers for employment and economic development needs, AM-RAMTEC will provide funding to:

1. Support targeted outreach and case management of hard-to-serve populations pursuing careers in robotics and automation

2. Establish and expand the availability of training programs to improve access for program participants and ensure high quality materials, facilities, and curriculums for training providers

3. Increase the number of trained workers with access to high-wage earning opportunities through demonstrated employer commitments to new hire and incumbent workers

4. Outline clear and achievable career pathway strategies

5. Provide resources to help workforce development partners, training partners and employers braid, leverage and ultimately maximize all available funding in order to minimize costs to program participants and place workers in income-earning and income-generating positions as quickly as possible

For more information, please contact: Lisa Katz at [email protected].

Or click on http://www.win-semich.org/