(LANSING) – A total of $4 million has been given to help prepare Michigan young adults for meaningful career and educational opportunities.

On Tuesday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that several organizations would be receiving grants to help out with the Young Professionals Program. This program is designed to provide young adults with a meaningful introduction to the world of work, including jobs skills, on-site, hybrid, and virtual career exploration and preparation activities.

The Young Professionals program aligns with Michigan's Sixty by 30 goal to increase the number of working-age adults with a skill certificate or college degree to 60 percent by 2030.

Michigan Works! Southwest, which works in St. Joseph, Branch, Kalamazoo and Calhoun Counties will be receiving $450,000. Michigan Works! Berrien, Cass, Van Buren, will be getting $247,973.

Whitmer says this investment expands career and educational opportunities for young adults and helps us build a state where everyone, no matter who they are or where they live, has a shot at a bright future. She says it will help fill job openings especially as older Michiganders leave the workforce and build on Michigan’s ongoing economic momentum.

The Young Professionals initiative is designed to reduce youth unemployment and place young adults, ages 14-24, on the right path to achieve lifelong economic self-sufficiency. The initiative supports young adults who are struggling to obtain employment by exposing them to multiple career and educational opportunities, such as entering a Registered Apprenticeship program, earning a college degree or certificate, and obtaining sustainable employment.

Michigan Works! Southwest Director Jakki Bungart-Bibb says Michigan Works! strives to equip youth with essential skills, connecting them to employment and building a talent pipeline. She says providing opportunities, such as the Young Professionals Initiative, creates an investment in the future for our local communities and helps open doors for youth to become powerful advocates for sustainable change.

More information about the program is available through the Michigan Works! network. To contact the nearest Michigan Works! Service Center, call 800-285-9675 or go online. Click Here.