Detroit News. June 1, 2024.

Editorial: Don’t let up on developing state’s workforce

Michigan is up against enormous challenges growing, attracting and retaining a sustainable workforce that supports the state’s current and future needs in an evolving automotive and technology economy.

Demand is growing for advanced manufacturing and higher-skills workers, and the big question is how to develop and attract them.

Michigan has made progress through public-private partnerships that have coordinated funding, streamlined efforts and helped identify overlooked pools of talent. And employers are helping lead the way, a critical feature of successful retention. But more work remains.

“We’ve been stagnant for a long time,” says Jayme Powell, executive director of the Detroit Regional Workforce Partnership. “Everyone has been in a crisis environment. That is why we are relentless about being business-led.”

Workforce development was a major focus of the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island last week.

With employers’ needs identified and organized by sector, these partnerships are able to collaborate with education partners, collect and aggregate data more efficiently and leverage regionalism to bring what’s working to scale. Higher education institutions are providing a strong foundation coming out of the pandemic for talent growth and stronger collaboration with employers.

“The number one supplier is the education system,” said Ann Thompson, manager of workforce development for Ford, at the conference. “They’re supplying your people.”

The University of Michigan and the Detroit Regional Chamber announced last week they are teaming up to create an “innovation corridor” from Ann Arbor to Detroit to attract and retain entrepreneurs, technology professionals and startups in Michigan.

Universities are also exposing students to companies and partners earlier on for better career insight and entry to the workforce.

Michigan is also one of the largest generators of talent in STEM and health care — a burgeoning field throughout the state.

But there is still a leaky talent pipeline. In 2023, for every 100 students only 35 earned a postsecondary credential within 10 years of starting high school.

The jobs of Michigan’s future no doubt require postsecondary education. Nowhere is that more evident than in the transitioning automotive industry, where a push toward electric vehicles and automation has upended the traditional workforce. There is growing need for more automation, vision systems, mechatronics and safety components.

Policymakers and Detroit’s auto companies are laser-focused on how to draw talent to the industry. Ford Motor Co. executive chair Bill Ford described the competition as a “war for talent.”

Michigan needs to win the fight.

Increasing skilled talent has been a bipartisan priority for Michigan’s last two administrations — and there is huge opportunity to upskill and reskill for the EV industry.

Companies should continue developing shorter-term training programs for entry-level employees, and help them earn other credentials that match their development with the state’s workforce needs.

Getting more people to live and work in Michigan also requires an atmosphere here that stimulates entrepreneurship and economic growth, a tax environment that gives people more determination over their futures and an education system that will teach kids how to read, write and add.

By continuing to look for talent that has not been fully accessed — women, minorities and immigrants — and by continuing to remove barriers to entry in the workforce, the state can build on a promising start.

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Traverse City Record-Eagle. June 2, 2024.

Editorial: Transparency is best policy

Thanks to a new policy, Michigan State Police have an inconsistent approach to death.

It didn’t use to be that way.

Typically, when they were at the point in an investigation where it was appropriate and they could be sure of the facts, our state police could be counted on to share those facts with the public. And those facts included the names of the people who had been killed.

Now, when someone is killed, they refuse to disclose the identity of that individual – except when, inexplicably, they do.

In one recent situation, a man was struck by an unmarked Michigan State Police vehicle and died at the hospital. Statements from various elected officials agreed it was “tragic.” Video footage of the incident was released in the “spirit of transparency” and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, according to Bridge Michigan reporting, called it “unacceptable.”

But acknowledgements of tragedy and gestures of transparency were not evident when state police investigated the death of 41-year-old Brandy May Neibert, who was shot to death when the Northern Michigan Mutual Aid Task Force Emergency Response Team tried to execute a search warrant in Norwich Township.

Nor were they apparent in the Jan. 27 death of Jake Turner, a 35-year-old Kalkaska man who was shot to death in a deer blind by state troopers after an alleged domestic violence incident.

Turner was found slumped over a loaded gun. Neibert died with a knife in one hand and a pot lid in the other.

In both cases, law enforcement agencies involved in these incidents wouldn’t release the names of the dead until weeks after they had been killed. Most of the information about these tragedies was obtained through Record-Eagle reporter Elizabeth Brewer’s dogged pursuit of Michigan Freedom of Information Act records.

When they introduced this new policy of nondisclosure, state police said they wanted to be “a modern police agency.” They wanted to give us good customer service. But what we’re getting, instead, is confused.

Our state police don’t seem to understand that their role is not to serve customers; their role is to uphold the laws and keep the peace.

We realize that our police, deputies, troopers and conservation officers face death every day. In some cases, they have to act fast to protect their own lives. This doesn’t make what happens any less tragic, as tragedy ripples past blue lines, into families and communities — on all fronts.

It’s important to realize, too, that information reported promptly to the public in the aftermath of a death is fundamental to understanding what happened – and in trusting that information.

Dealing with tragedies requires a cool head and a keen eye. State police could always be counted on for their professionalism and sober mien, not for jabbering about customer service and modernity.

To those of us who have dealt with state police officers our entire careers, we know them and we respect many of them. This so-called policy is, frankly, shocking. It doesn’t fit. It feels like public relations, not policing. It feels wrong.

And now, apparently applied at whim, it is poorly reasoned.

Our request is heartfelt: Reconsider this policy. It obviously was a mistake to apply it in a recent case because it was not observed. The reasons behind that decision to forego it are almost certain to happen again. That is yet another indication that it’s poor policy.

Dispense with it now.

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Alpena News. June 1, 2024.

Editorial: Speak out on state budget

Lawmakers haven’t finalized the state budget, yet. That means there’s still time to let your lawmakers know what you want them to fight for.

The state House and state Senate each has passed their version of an $80 billion budget, but the two chambers still have to meet to iron out their differences before crafting a final version of the budget. Though the state fiscal year doesn’t begin until Oct. 1, lawmakers aim to wrap up the budget process next month so K-12 schools know how much money they’ll get per student before they have to put together their own budget.

While lawmakers engage in their final negotiations, there’s still time for Northeast Michiganders to make their wishes known. Not many of those wishes may end up being granted, especially given that Northeast Michigan is represented by Republicans but Democrats control both chambers of the Capitol, but we still believe it’s important for every Michigander to communicate with lawmakers about the spending plan.

The budgeting process is where lawmakers turn policy proposals into programs and actions.

And the state budget has real consequences for Northeast Michigan. Lawmakers, for example, nixed a proposal to fund dredging and the construction of a jetty at the mouth of the Black River in Alcona County.

The budget also funds the Michigan State Police, K-12 schools, community colleges, and local governments.

So we encourage every Northeast Michigander to take a look at the budget — the state Senate Fiscal Agency has a great breakdown at Senate.Michigan.gov/SFA, under “Appropriation Bill Status” — and then reach out to your lawmakers to let them know what you like, what you don’t like, what you want added, what you want subtracted.

State Rep. Cam Cavitt, R-Cheboygan, can be reached at 517-373-0833 or CamCavitt@house.mi.gov. State Sen. Michele Hoitenga, R-Mancelona, can be reached at 517-373-7946 or SenMHoitenga@senate.michigan.gov.

And we urge Cavitt and Hoitenga to hear what Northeast Michiganders have to say and then take that fight to the Capitol, even if it’s a losing fight.

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