Jackson College receives grant from The Michigan Center for Adult College Success
The grant is intended to help working adult students be able to find success at Jackson College via competency-based certificate programs.
Jackson College has received a grant in the amount of $317,477 from The Michigan Center for Adult College Success’ Innovation Investment Awards program. The Center, and the grants which it provides, focuses on helping working-age adults in the state of Michigan earn college degrees or certificates and find success in the workforce.
According to an article on Jackson College’s website, Kevin Stotts, who is the president of TalentFirst, the organization that launched The Michigan Center for Adult College Success in 2023, said of the college’s grant award, “Congratulations to Jackson College and all the grantees for recognizing that knowledge and skills are the currencies of the modern employment market. Employer demand for well-trained workers is only going to grow. Helping more adults obtain postsecondary credentials is how we open the door of opportunity for Michigan families.”
With this grant funding, Jackson College will develop two programs aimed at working adult students. One program is a new manufacturing certificate program, and one is an existing medical insurance coder biller program that will be expanded to become more accessible via an online model.
Jamie Vandenburgh, the college’s Dean of Workforce, Technical and Professional Education, explained how the grant funding will be utilized in the process of bringing these new programs to students. Vandenburgh is quoted as saying, “This grant will provide us the opportunity to offer more personalized and flexible programs for students. Funds will be used to support faculty in curriculum and program development both in the credit and workforce areas. The new programs are set to pilot in 2026.”
According to The Michigan Center for Adult College Success website, the organization was “created by the state of Michigan to meet the statewide need for a skilled workforce by increasing the number of adults obtaining postsecondary credentials. These credentials open the door to good-paying jobs, allowing more Michiganders to build better lives for themselves and their families.”
The goal of the Center is in line with the state of Michigan’s Sixty by 30 initiative, which aims to have 60% of the state’s working-age population to have obtained a college degree or skill certificate by the year 2030, in order to bolster the quality of life for Michigan families and boost the state’s workforce and economy.
For more information about Jackson College, visit the school’s website.