When the single-largest gathering of Michigan’s tourism industry convenes March 27-29 in Grand Rapids, it will be more than an opportunity to network and sharpen knowledge. The Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference on Tourism will shed light on diversity – a topic top-of-mind throughout business and society....
In the more than two and a half years since its creation, Venture North Funding & Development has built a lending portfolio and name assisting small businesses. It’s now looking to go broader and deeper into the 10 counties it serves, tapping new partnerships and sources...
Opening three restaurants in six years is quick by anyone's standards. But with a little help from Northern Initiatives, Simon Joseph was able to do just that. “They’re more than just a lender,” said Joseph, owner and managing partner of Roaming Harvest food truck, Harvest, and Gaijin....
Kelly Dunham has seen many older job seekers join the ranks of drivers at the Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA). And she’s interested in adding more to a BATA workforce that has an average age of 54 and reaches as high as 77, with a variety...
Funds to train the skilled trades are getting a big boost from the state. Starting Oct. 1, businesses can compete for a piece of the state’s Skilled Trades Training Fund (STTF), a $29 million competitive grant program. Last year’s STFF awarded $17.1 million to 450 applicants. In the...
When Northwestern Michigan College begins its new associate degree in welding technology later this month, it’ll be thanks in part to something that transpired two and a half years prior: A major state grant for equipment toward skilled-trades training. The nearly $2.1 million grant, aimed at...
Culinary medicine support. A peer-to-peer network for food service directors to share healthy food best practices and recipes. School farmers markets and vouchers for teachers to purchase produce. Farm fruit and vegetable drop-offs at purchasing worksites. Those are just a few ways that a $401,513 grant...
As a cardiologist, James Fox spends a lot of time trying to help patients understand that the choices in their diet that they make — and have made for years — affect the cardiovascular disease that brings them to his door. But dietary changes are not...
Next year at this time, Tom Greyerbiehl hopes to have a new type of grapevine planted in his Benzie County vineyard. It could come not from out-of-state nurseries where he’s purchased vines before, but from the local operations of Campbell Milarch Vines, LLC. The Copemish-based venture, a...
Graphic designer. Baker. Firefighter. Customer service representative. They may not be occupations that readily come to mind as candidates for apprenticeships, but they’re among a myriad of possibilities that Evelyn Szpliet, the Northwest Michigan Works! new point person on apprenticeships, is happy to help employers consider. Szpliet...
