Trillium Living and Calvin University have started a new strategic partnership to encourage intergenerational connections, experiential education, workforce development, and lifelong learning.
Recently Calvin University and Trillium Living launched a new strategic partnership to encourage lifelong learning, intergenerational connections, workforce development, and experiential education in West Michigan. The partnership has been formalized through a memorandum of understanding that was signed at Calvin University’s campus, and creates a framework of teamwork between the two long-lasting Christian institutions. The initial focus of the partnership is on community programming, athletics, arts, collaborative research, healthcare workforce development, experiential education, student internships, and lifelong learning.
This partnership is a reflection of a joint belief between the two organizations that communities are at their most healthy when generations grow, learn, and serve together. Calvin University and Trillium Living hope to strengthen intergenerational connections in West Michigan, improve the lives of older adults, and improve educational opportunities for students by connecting community leaders, caregivers, residents, faculty, and students together.
In an article posted on Calvin University’s website, the president and CEO of Trillium Living, Troy Vugteveen, talked about the new partnership, saying, “When generations learn from one another and share their experiences, everyone benefits. Together with Calvin University, we can create new pathways for learning, service, and innovation that benefit our residents and patients, Calvin students, and the broader West Michigan community.”
Trillium Living and Calvin University share a commitment to make more opportunities for people of multiple generations to both learn from and serve each other while also creating connections between Calvin’s Students and opportunities for community engagement, career development, and meaningful experiential learning.
This is not the first collaboration between Calvin University and Trillium Living. The two organizations have worked together for years. This MOU marks the start of a new more strategic and intentional relationship that works to strengthen the missions, longstanding presence in southeast Grand Rapids, and complementary resources of the two organizations.
Calvin University’s President, Greg Elzinga, was quoted about this new partnership, saying, “Learning is a lifelong endeavor, and at Calvin, we believe education is about more than preparing students for a first job, it’s about preparing them to discover their calling, develop their gifts, and use their careers to serve others. This partnership gives our students opportunities to take what they’re learning in the classroom and put it into practice alongside experienced professionals and older adults, gaining the knowledge, skills, and perspective they need to launch meaningful careers. At the same time, our students have much to learn from the wisdom and experiences of those they serve. That kind of education, grounded in faith, vocation and real-world experience, is central to who we are at Calvin.”
This new strategic partnership also serves to address certain dire workforce needs in the aging services and healthcare industries by injecting students into those career pathways, as well as connecting Calvin’s academic expertise and creating more hands-on learning opportunities with Trillium Living residents, professionals, caregivers, and patients.
Both Trillium Living and Calvin University see the strategic partnership as a base on which to build more collaboration. They aim to create more chances to connect staff, faculty, students, and residents through community experiences, research, and shared programs.
Vugteveen went on to note, “Trillium Living and Calvin University have deep roots in West Michigan and missions centered on serving others. By bringing those strengths together, we can create meaningful opportunities today while building a partnership that can grow and evolve for years to come.”
More information about Trillium Living can be found at the organization's website.
More information about Calvin University can be found at the school’s website.