AG Schuette visits southwest Michigan, discusses student-focused jobs program

HARTFORD, Mich. -- The ‘Jobs for Michigan’s Graduates’ program is the topic at hand in the first of several stops Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette will make throughout Southwest Michigan on Wednesday.

Schuette, who is running for governor, will first visit Hartford High School on Wednesday morning.

Nearly 130 students in the district take part in the jobs program, which is an elective-style course that students take in school that connects them with people and opportunities so they can land a job or a college degree after high school.

Over 500 students in Southwest Michigan are enrolled in the program.

Ahead of Schuette’s visit, Kristin Harrington, the executive director of Youth Solutions, said the goal is to help students and Michigan’s economy.

“Michigan is projecting over 800,000 open jobs in the skilled trades and professional trades area by 2024 and we believe that our young people are a perfect pipeline into those open opportunities,” Harrington said. “But a big part of it is making them aware that those job opportunities are out there and then preparing them with meaningful soft skills so that they can walk right onto the job and perform at the employer expectation.”

Harrington said one of the biggest challenges the program faces is finding students transportation to and from different career-focused events that offer exposure to professional opportunities.

She said it’s also important that kids who live in rural areas are able to get from their houses to work.

Schuette visited Benton Harbor back in February to discuss job creation.

As part of his gubernatorial campaign, he continues to say he will be Michigan’s ‘jobs governor’ if elected.