Health Careers Alliance

The Health Careers Alliance for Southeast Michigan (HCASM) is an employer-led healthcare collaborative for 11 counties in Southeast Michigan. This proven model is designed to organize healthcare industry employers to identify strategies to address common talent needs. By working together, our healthcare employers can meet workforce needs more effectively and efficiently while helping community members access higher quality career pathways.

The long-term goal is to support the healthcare industry cluster with state, regional, and local employer-led collaboratives throughout Michigan.

Health Careers Alliance Focus Areas

The Health Careers Alliance is focusing on several high need occupations in Southeast Michigan. Currently, HCA has formed program teams focused following occupations:

• Certified Nursing Assistant
• Medical Assistant
• Sterile Processing Technicians

Each program team will examine issues related to the assigned occupation. Program teams will work to address such issues as awareness about occupations, recruitment to existing training programs, creation of new training programs, if needed, and other activities related to building a strong talent pipeline for in-demand careers in healthcare.

Benefits of an Employer-Led Collaborative for Your Company

• Enhances awareness of the brand and image of your industry.
• Communicates your needs with one voice to all partners in the community.
• Generates greater leverage in creating a better talent pipeline that can address the needs of all employers.
• Addresses current and emerging skill gaps – through short-term and long-term strategies.
• Provides a means to engage directly with industry across traditional boundaries.
• Better aligns state programs, education, and training curriculum, and other resources serving employers and workers.
• Allows for constructive dialogue directly with an industry facing critical workforce needs, as opposed to the “one-off” solutions for an individual employer/company.

Possible Outcomes of a Demand-Driven Employer-Led Collaborative

• Development of new education and training programs.
• Review and update of current curriculum and programs for specific occupations.
• Prioritization of incumbent worker training in targeted areas.
• Increase in internships, co-ops, and apprenticeship opportunities.
• Coordinated and consistent opportunities to expose youth to in-demand careers.
• A comprehensive marketing plan to promote career opportunities within an industry.

State of Michigan Support for Demand-Driven Employer-Led Collaboratives

The State encourages sector strategies to develop demand-driven, employer-led collaboratives. These collaboratives, which can be statewide, regional or local, identify galvanizing issues that collectively impact employers, employees and job seekers. Employers then create customized, targeted solutions that leverage the power of collective problem solving to meet employers’ workforce needs faster and more effectively than individual employers can alone.

Project management support for the HCASM is provided by the State of Michigan, Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, Workforce Development (LEO-WD), and the Workforce Intelligence Network (WIN).