This year, the Upjohn Institute’s Center for Workforce Innovation and Solutions, or CWIS, marks its 50th anniversary providing and administering workforce development programs in our region.
While the origins of the center date back to 1971, when the Upjohn Institute joined with the city and county of Kalamazoo to administer a local employment program created by the federal Emergency Employment Act, it was the creation of the Upjohn Institute’s Employment Management Services Division, or EMSD, in 1974 that allowed the Upjohn Institute itself to run workforce programs for Kalamazoo County.
Some milestones over the years
Michigan Works! Southwest marks the opening of a new service center in Coldwater in 2023
- The service area expanded in 1982 to include St. Joseph County, with the EMSD overseeing all federal and state workforce programs.
- In 1994, the institute (the EMSD) began providing direct services for the Dislocated Worker Program, offering career coaching and support to laid-off workers and displaced homemakers looking to enter or reenter the paid workforce.
- Michigan service areas, including Kalamazoo-St. Joseph, began using Michigan Works! branding for their workforce development efforts from the 1990s through 2006, when it was adopted statewide.
- In 2005, the EMSD began administering the Michigan Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative, supporting a seamless system of services for offenders from their entry to prison through their transition, community reintegration and aftercare in the communities.
- The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funded the Summer Youth Employment Initiative to reverse the steep decline in youth employment during the recession. Youth Opportunities Unlimited, under the Upjohn Institute’s Michigan Works! division, set and beat a goal of employing 1,000 youths in Kalamazoo and St. Joseph counties over the program year, with 1,185.
- In 2011, five southwest Michigan counties joined a regional healthcare skills alliance seeking to ensure a qualified workforce for health care and long-term care needs. This effort eventually grew into the Southwest Michigan Healthcare Consortium.
- The Upjohn Institute launched a partnership with the Employer Resource Network in 2012, providing on-site success coaches at network member employers to provide workers individualized services aimed at improving employee retention and productivity. The institute continued to provide services and, in 2018, took over administration of Employer Resource Network Michigan.
- Michigan Works! Southwest was officially created in 2014 when the service area of Kalamazoo and St. Joseph counties expanded to include Branch and Calhoun counties. That year was also the first for the state’s Going PRO Talent Fund, which provides businesses awards through Michigan Works! agencies to train, develop and retain employees.
Career Life Expo
Pulse CEO Summit
- After experimenting with different ways to connect people in the highest-unemployment neighborhoods in its service area, the Upjohn Institute applied for and received a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in 2017 that helped fund the Neighborhood HUBS program. The program is embedded within existing community organizations in Battle Creek neighborhoods to help residents overcome the barriers to finding and keeping good jobs.
- Recognizing the importance of early childhood education in its employment mission, the Upjohn Institute in 2020 brought in Pulse at the W.E. Upjohn Institute. Formerly BC Pulse, the group works to change child care systems with the foundational belief that when children thrive, the entire community benefits.
- With its expanded scope, the Upjohn Institute rebranded its EMSD as the Center for Workforce Innovation and Solutions, or CWIS, in 2021.
- CWIS continues to find ways of fulfilling the Upjohn Institute mission of helping people find and keep good jobs. In 2023, The center led one of 16 teams nationwide chosen to participate in the U.S. Department of Labor’s first Job Quality Academy. The experience launched an initiative to address childcare challenges in southwest Michigan.
As workplaces and employment relationships continue to evolve over the next 50 years, CWIS will continue its history of innovation and dedication to serving its communities.