Creating Plastics Technology Career Pathways in Rural Michigan is advancing plastics technology and plastics workforce development throughout Michigan. The project is linking Mid Michigan Community College with community and industry leaders, the Clare-Gladwin Regional Educational Service District and Ferris State University to ensure that students are progressing incrementally toward academic credentials and sustainable employment in the local plastics industry. The project's strategies are addressing gaps in current education and training programs by: 1) formalizing an industrial alliance to provide curriculum assistance, career awareness, and workforce experience; 2) developing a non-credit training credential, an academic certificate, and an associates degree with seamless transferability into a bachelors degree in plastics engineering technology, and 3) recruiting and retaining students into a laddered program that provides an array of hands-on and work experience options as well as the integration of entrepreneurial instruction into the curriculum. This innovative approach is addressing issues surrounding the state's manufacturing industries: overt competition among companies for qualified employees, an aging workforce, a shortage of applicants and incumbents with necessary skills, and a pervasive stigma about manufacturing careers. This project is serving as a model to other rural industries, demonstrating that progress can be made through collaborative, proactive strategies. The project is also enhancing the capacity of educational systems at all levels, comprehensively approaching workforce needs, broadening participation by under-represented women, and building entrepreneurs who are reinvigorating the region's economy.
