The Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity recently announced the recipients of $3 million in Young Professionals grants and $1 million in Young Professionals Plus grants to provide youth and young adults with a meaningful introduction to the world of work, including career exploration and preparation, jobs skills, and earned income.
Young Professionals and Young Professionals Plus grants have been awarded to the state’s 16 Michigan Works! Agencies, including nearly $265,000 of the $4 million grant directed to the Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation (DESC). The grants statewide will support the creation and/or enhancement of locally developed Young Professionals employment initiatives to meet the unique needs of the communities they serve.
“With its focus on supporting underserved populations, including those with disabilities, the Young Professionals initiative prepares our future workforce to meet employers’ needs,” said LEO Director Susan Corbinsaid in a statement.
“This initiative empowers young people to explore different career pathways by removing their barriers to employment, allowing them to pursue meaningful careers right here in Michigan.”
Young Professionals supports Michiganders from 14-24 years old, who face barriers on the path to employment by exposing them to multiple career and educational opportunities, such as obtaining work experience or earning an in-demand training certificate.
Young Professionals Plus is supported by state funds and creates additional opportunities to engage youth who may not be eligible for Young Professionals funding.
In 2025, more than 600 young people participated in Young Professionals activities to explore a wide spectrum of career interests and pathways.
“Young Professionals allows our Michigan Works! partners to take a localized approach to support young adults, helping us close equity gaps, address talent shortages, and remove barriers to employment,” said LEO Workforce Development Director Krista Johnson. “This funding supports our future workforce by placing young adults on a path to achieve lifelong economic sufficiency.”
Michigan Chronicle recently connected about the grant to DESC with Terri Weems, the Executive of Workforce and Detroit at Work for the City of Detroit, and Mary Sheffield’s Special Advisor to the Mayor on Workforce.
We asked Weems several questions about how the grant would impact the organization’s efforts.
MC: What was DESC’s operating budget for fiscal year 2025-2026?
Weems: DESC’s operating budget for 25/26 is $66 million. These funds support workforce development efforts across Detroit, including youth and adult employment and training and employer partnerships.
MC: This grant is specifically aimed at young people. How will this translate into tangible outcomes for Black youth in Detroit, particularly those who are disconnected from school or the workforce?
Weems: This investment allows us to directly connect young people – especially those disconnected from school or work – to paid, meaningful experiences, career exploration, activities, and internships, including our signature program: Grow Detroit’s Young Talent. Additionally, it allows us to connect young people to our year-round youth career exploration and internship opportunities.
MC: What barriers are facing young Detroit professionals and how will DESC prioritize dismantling those barriers with this funding?
Weems: For disconnected youth, the biggest barrier is often lack of access and opportunity – not lack of talent. This funding allows us to meet young people where they are and connect them to our income and pathways forward across hundreds of employer partners. With this funding, we are prioritizing two core barriers
- Access to first opportunities – Many young people don’t have networks that connect them to employers or career pathways
- Work readiness and exposure gaps – This is not a deficit in ability, but a lack of exposure to professional environments, expectations and career navigation
MC: Can you walk me through what success looks like a year from now? What metrics or milestones will demonstrate that this funding has meaningfully improved economic mobility for Detroit youth?
Weems: We expect to see an increase both in youth working and in youth wages.
We already know that participants in GDYT have shown to have better school attendance, a higher graduation rate, and more often go on to pursue post-secondary opportunities. In addition to tracking the number of youth placed annually in summer internships (over 8,000), and in year-round career exploration activities, we track the following:
– The number of youth who obtain an industry recognized credential;
– Youth engagement and retention in our programs, including repeated engagement;
– The number of youth who have obtained permanent jobs, who pursue postsecondary education, stay connected to the workforce system.
MC: There’s often skepticism about whether workforce programs lead to long-term career pathways. How will this initiative ensure that participants are not just placed in jobs, but positioned for sustained growth and wealth-building?
Weems: We are intentional about placements. We’re not just matching young people to any job – we’re connecting them to opportunities aligned with their self-identified interests and career goals. Employers are part of that process, interviewing participants to ensure alignment from the start. That matters for retention, growth, and long-term success.
We’re also strengthening the connection between education and workforce. We are working closely with our K-12 and postsecondary partners to embed career readiness, internships, and real-world exposure directly into the high school experience. This allows young people to build skills and explore pathways before they ever enter the full-time workforce.
For example, we are partnering with local labor unions to integrate curriculum into high schools so that students can graduate with industry-recognized experience and credentials. That creates a direct bridge into apprenticeships and high-quality careers, not just temporary jobs. At the same time, we’re expanding summer opportunities so young people can continue exploring and building on those pathways.
At a systems level, the mayor has also been very intentional about alignment – bringing leaders from K-12, higher education, and workforce onto transition teams and the Workforce Board to ensure we are building a connected pipeline, not fragmented programs.
Ultimately, our goal is not just placement – it’s progression. We want young people to enter pathways that lead to higher wages, stability, and long-term economic mobility, and that requires alignment across education, employers, and workforce systems. That’s what this initiative is designed to deliver.
