West Michigan Internship Initiative receives support from the Community Foundation for Muskegon County
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
For Immediate Release
Contact: Greg Northrup, President
616-356-6060 Cell: 616-204-0155
West Michigan Internship Initiative receives support from the Community Foundation for Muskegon County
WEST MICHIGAN—October 26, 2011—The West Michigan Internship Initiative announced the latest round of funding support received from the Community Foundation for Muskegon County in the amount of $5,000. This grant brings the total awarded to $30,000 in grants from area Community Foundations.
In today’s economy jobs go where the talent is located. At 25.9%, West Michigan’s Educational Attainment (the percentage of the population ages 25 to 34 with B.A. degrees or higher) is lower than the national and state percentages. Increasing internships for college age students is a proven method to retain young educated workers in West Michigan. In 2009, the West Michigan Internship Initiative was created with the goal of creating 3,000 new internship opportunities in the region by the end of 2011. The initiative has developed a collaborative advisory group with employers and career services departments from 14 universities, colleges and community colleges in the region. More than 1,500 new internships have been created in the region, since the program’s inception.
West Michigan Strategic Alliance president, Greg Northrup said, “Employment opportunities are increasing in our region. But a lot of openings go unfilled because there is a lack of educated talent. Interns can be a key part of an ongoing talent recruitment strategy. Nationally, 70% of internships result in a full-time job offer.”
The training being offered by WMSA’s program helps employers get past the perceived barriers of the time required to develop and structure an internship program and the time commitment for supervisors and mentors to work with the intern.
“We are excited to take the strategy that has been successful in helping small and mid-sized companies in the region establish internship programs and apply this same strategy to the more than 5,000 nonprofit organizations in the region,” Northrup said. The often small, entrepreneurial nature of a nonprofit can provide interns with real work experience, while at the same time, interns can greatly enhance the impact of a nonprofit’s limited resources.
According to the Community Research Institute’s report, in Muskegon County there are 454 NPOs employing 8,145 people and representing more than $385 million in economic impact. When combined with the other counties for which there was available data, West Michigan has 5,003 NPOs employing 63,025 and representing more than 3.4 billion in economic impact.
WMSA made a coordinated request of the region’s community foundations to support outreach to nonprofits throughout the region. Northrup commented, “The area Community Foundations have shown strong leadership with their support of the Internship Initiative. We believe there is an opportunity for the Community Foundations of the region to develop sponsorships for paid internships at nonprofits in much the same way they currently support scholarships. We’ll be pursuing this idea during the next year.”
About the Community Foundation for Muskegon County
The Community Foundation for Muskegon County was created in 1961 to improve the quality of life for Muskegon County residents. As a publicly-supported community endowment, the Foundation receives and manages contributions from thousands of community citizens and organizations who are committed to the future of Muskegon County.
About the West Michigan Strategic Alliance
The West Michigan Strategic Alliance serves as a catalyst for regional collaboration among the businesses, institutions and governmental units serving 1.3 million people living in the counties of Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kent, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo and Ottawa. WMSA works to encourage a regional mindset, building collaboration on critical issues that impact how we live, learn, work and play. Additional information on WMSA is available at www.wm-alliance.org.
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