By Journal Staff

MARQUETTE — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity recently awarded Helmets to Hardhats a $250,000 grant to support the Michigan Construction Apprenticeship post-Military Opportunity Program that will connect 225 veterans with registered apprenticeships in Michigan’s construction industry.

“The MiCAMO Program offers active-duty and retired military veterans meaningful career opportunities in Michigan’s construction industry,” Whitmer said in a statement. “To continue fixing our roads and bridges so people can go to work or drop their kids off at school safely, we need high-quality construction completed by highly-skilled workers. The MiCAMO Program will empower those who served land a good-paying, high-skill, and in-demand job and help employers fill open positions. We will stay focused on growing our economy and turbocharging our progress to keep fixing our infrastructure.”

The MiCAMO Program will provide training to help transitioning active-duty and retired military service members, National Guard, reservists and veterans with Registered Apprenticeship paths to in-demand, high-wage construction jobs.

“We are continuously looking for solutions to address the skilled talent needs of our state’s employers — and the MiCAMO Program does that and much more,” said Stephanie Beckhorn, director of LEO’s Office of Employment and Training, said in a statement. “The program not only helps address the talent needs of one of our state’s crucial industries — construction — but it also expands high-wage opportunities for Michigan veterans. MiCAMO will have a real impact on Michigan families, businesses and communities.”

Resulting employment from the MiCAMO Program will benefit veterans and the state, officials said, as veterans who participate will gain “long-term economic security in high-demand, high-wage U.S. Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship Programs and improved access to GI Bill benefits for eligible veterans.”

“Veterans represent the best of the best that our workforce has to offer,” said Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency Director Zaneta Adams in a statement. “This program is exciting because it helps veterans realize the many opportunities to gain skills and sustainable income and enables them to increase the economic footprint in their communities. Serving the community is what veterans have been trained to do.”

Registered apprenticeships are industry-driven, high-quality career training programs in which employers develop and prepare Michigan’s future workforce. Apprentices gain paid work experience, related classroom instruction and a national industry-recognized credential upon program completion. The programs help employers begin an immediate transfer of knowledge from current to future high value workers. Workers get a paycheck from day one while they build the right skills in a new career.

“Having the support of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity gives Helmets to Hardhats the ability to not only reach more veterans, but change more lives,” said Martin Helms, Helmets to Hardhats executive director, in a statement. “We agree with Gov. Whitmer on the importance of transitioning active-duty and retired military Veterans with meaningful career opportunities in an industry that is critical to our state’s infrastructure. Our outreach to military service members allows us to connect them to middle class, family-sustaining career opportunities. We cannot thank LEO enough for their commitment to our nation’s military Veterans and the Helmets to Hardhats program.”

More information about Helmets for Hardhats is available at HelmetsToHardhats.org. To learn more about State Apprenticeship Expansion in Michigan, visit Michigan.gov/Apprenticeship.