A new partnership to offer paid apprenticeships to high school students in Berrien County has been announced.
Lake Michigan College, Berrien RESA, and the Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber have teamed up for the Berrien Talent Collaborative, a program aimed at helping businesses fill open jobs while growing the county’s population.
LMC President Trevor Kubatzke told us RESA will engage career and technical training students while the chamber will connect them with employers and the college provides training.
“This will offer a junior a chance to sign up for a career,” Kubatzke said. “We will match them with an industry, a partner, a business. In junior year, they will still be taking classes, but they will be in the workplace, paid. That’s the important part of this. It’s a paid apprenticeship. So, their junior year, they might be in the classroom 20 hours and work 20 hours. Then in senior year, maybe they’re in the workplace 30 hours and the classroom 10 hours.”
This is the first countywide youth apprenticeship program in Michigan.
During Friday’s announcement, RESA Superintendent Eric Hoppstock said 60% of Berrien County high school graduates don’t seek skilled trade training or a degree. The Berrien Talent Collaborative will get them working and training before they even graduate.
“Registered apprenticeships are not a new concept,” Hoppstock said. “What is new is the scale at which we’re trying to talk about this.”
Lake Michigan College has donated its Niles campus building to RESA so it can be used for the apprenticeship training. Meanwhile, LMC still maintains a long-term lease on it, so LMC programs run at the Niles campus will continue. The new program will also use the Hanson Technology Center.
The goal is to launch the new Berrien Talent Collaborative in the fall.
