KVCC, Urban Alliance creating employment opportunities in Kalamazoo

By Madison Bennett | MLive

KALAMAZOO, MI - Kalamazoo Valley Community College has partnered with local employment program, Momentum, to help those in need gain employment.

The Momentum Urban Employment Initiative is a program through Urban Alliance, an organization in Kalamazoo that works to transform urban communities through services and programs.

The program caters to those who have significant barriers to employment.

"Homelessness, criminal history, recovering drug addiction, just spotty employment experience, somebody who just hasn't been able to hold down a job because of other things going on in their life," said Brian Parsons, director of Momentum.

According to Parsons, the program serves many residents in the Edison neighborhood as well as the East and North side neighborhoods.

"I know that the unemployment rate in Kalamazoo is pretty low but the poverty rate in Kalamazoo is actually very high, it's at 30 percent in the core neighborhoods," Parsons said.

Momentum, which has been running for over three years, is a six-week program. Participants must have 40 hours a week of total participation, 20 hours inside the classroom and 20 hours at a volunteer work site, Monday through Friday.

In addition, participants are paired with volunteer coaches, who meet with them week-to-week to talk about any challenges they may be facing.

It offers employment services like resume development, interviewing practice, help with job applications, image development as well as like skills including emotional intelligence, conflict resolution and self-worth.

"We saw the need for some skills based training to be added to what we do," Parsons said.

Momentum's partnership with KVCC did not come until May 2015, according to Elizabeth Lyons, director of career and continuing education for KVCC.

Lyons said it took them about nine months to get their first program off the ground. It started with a manufacturing program, the Production Technician Academy, in February 2016. Following its initial success, they developed the Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Academy, another manufacturing program.

"The majority of the program is hands-on, of the total hours I would say less than eight were actually classroom hours," Lyons said.

More recently, KVCC opened the doors of their Bronson Healthy Living Campus to Momentum participants with a new culinary program. They saw their first group of culinary graduates in March 2017.

Prior to the academies, Momentum would help participants find employment through their business network of 50 local employers that hire directly through them.

The skills based training programs through KVCC tack on an additional three weeks to the six weeks of training strictly with Momentum.

Both Lyons and Parsons said they have a high success rate for participants who go through both programs; 81 percent graduate and of those who graduate, 91 percent go on to be employed while 90 percent of those are still with the same employer beyond 90 days.

Momentum holds an open enrollment prior to the start of their six-week terms where they do interviews and an assessment prior to selecting people for the program.

"I can't tell you how many times I hear the graduates say I thought I was going through this program to get a job but instead I learned how to like myself for the first time," Lyons said.

"We just give them the tools to succeed but fundamentally they start to believe in themselves."

For more information on Momentum and Urban Alliance, visit www.uainc.org. 

This post originally appeared May 9, 2017 on MLive.com.