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Kellogg Foundation commits $1.2M to internships in Michigan

Thursday, December 17, 2009

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--This article originally appeared on September 10, 2009

The Intern In Michigan program got a big bump this week when the W.K. Kellogg Foundation pledged $1.2 million to support it.

The funding will keep the program up and running through 2012. The program intends to encourage more businesses, big and small, in the state to create and expand internship programs to help staunch Michigan's brain drain.

"Basically it adds up to about a third of our budget over three years," says Britany Affolter-Caine, director of Intern In Michigan.

The Detroit Regional Chamber is partnering with the West Michigan Strategic Alliance to push the program forward. Grants from the U.S. Department of Labor's Workforce Innovations in Regional Economic Development program and the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan helped it gain traction in Metro Detroit earlier this year. This new money will help spread the program across the state.

"It makes this a truly Michigan initiative," Affolter-Caine says.

The conventional wisdom is that college students who intern are more likely to stay in the region where the internship is located. It often serves as a portal for the first job for Michigan's youngest and brightest talent.

Intern In Michigan has created a website to facilitate this matchmaking. More than 4,400 students and 450 employers have created profiles. About 230 internships have been listed and/or filled through the site.

Source: Britany Affolter-Caine, director of Intern In Michigan
Writer: Jon Zemke

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