December 16, 2003 –  Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced that due to the hard work of an innovative Michigan Works! Director, residents in the Thumb area of Michigan will have better job training opportunities in a rural part of the state that historically has been underserved.  The State of Michigan was notified this week that a waiver, Marv Pichla, Executive Director of the Thumb Area Michigan Works! Consortium, had sought was approved by the federal government.

“Marv has been a creative workforce developer for many years,” said Granholm. “He is a passionate innovator and a real public policy entrepreneur. We are gratified that the federal government approved this waiver that will help Michigan citizens in the Thumb area to have better job training opportunities.”

The waiver sets the stage to build on the “Tool Chest” system that Pichla’s agency has been championing for the last several years that is aimed at giving job training consumers the resources they need to make informed decisions and purchases of quality job training that meets their individual needs and actually helps them find meaningful work.

"Always finding a better way is the focus of this waiver.  We are grateful for the support of the United States Department of Labor and State of Michigan. We will need everyone's help to maximize the effectiveness of our proposed system," said Pichla.

Attracting and keeping qualified job training programs on the approved list has been especially challenging in the Thumb Area which is very rural and has fewer training opportunities than other regions of the state.  Under Pichla’s leadership, the Thumb Area Michigan Works! Consortium is developing a tiered training system that will benefit both workers and job training providers.

Under this new-tiered system, job-training providers will be classified based on the types of services provided and criteria met.  Each tier will also have specific quality indicators associated with it.   One on going challenge, especially in more remote areas with fewer resources, was keeping job trainers on the qualified list.  While many can meet the criteria to be placed on the list initially, subsequent federal reporting requirements are seen by many trainers as too expensive, and they fall off the list.  This waiver will help ease some of those reporting requirements and therefore help keep more qualified trainers on the list to provide much needed job training opportunities.  The tiered system will provide an alternative measure of quality that Pichla hopes will meet the needs of providers as well as consumers.

“Marv is committed to doing the right thing and personifies the type of commitment and creativity we’re going to need to help us build the workforce of the future,” said Department of Labor & Economic Growth Director David Hollister.  We commend his efforts to empower workers to find the training that best meets their individual needs by providing them not only funding but information to help them be smarter consumers.”

For more information on this program and the waiver, contact Marv Pichla at 989-635-3561.

Read more Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth news releases.