Making West Michigan a leading region for talent
See how our CEO-led strategies provide leadership on complex talent challenges to ensure our region thrives.
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Illuminate. Evaluate. Advocate.
TalentFirst is a catalyst working to ensure an ongoing supply of world-class talent for West Michigan. Composed of over 100 CEOs from the region, TalentFirst illuminates gaps, evaluates leading practices, and advocates for the implementation of those leading practices to make West Michigan a top 20% employment region.
Unmatched Collaboration for Regional Impact
TalentFirst serves 13 counties in West Michigan, engaging the industries, businesses, and nonprofit and educational institutions of each county. We chose this region — Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kent, Lake, Mason, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Osceola and Ottawa counties — because it provides the talent pool from which local employers employ 83.6 percent of their workforce. We convene stakeholders from across sectors and facilitate efficient and effective collaboration.
Our Working Groups:
Where collaboration drives solutions
Ensure children have access to quality childcare and preschool that prepares them to enter kindergarten at…
Increase academic and college and career readiness measures and advocate for schools to adopt…
The Postsecondary Education Working Group aims to increase the number of students graduating from West…
The Workforce Development Working Group aims to create a best-in-class workforce system to engage and…
The Workforce Analytics Working Group aims to advance alignment across West Michigan’s talent…
Significantly reduce the racial and ethnic disparities in labor force participation, employment, and…
TalentFirst will be recognized as one of the most trusted resources for talent solutions among West Michigan…
Our Members
TalentFirst’s membership represents an array of the region’s business, educational, and civic leaders — a group as diverse as the region we serve. Together, they are a powerful force for meeting the talent demand of today and tomorrow.
Our Insights
- April 23, 2024
Even as the initial shock of COVID-19 has diminished, employers and their teams continue to face challenges, stress and disruptions in their lives and the...
- March 29, 2024
Helping students find postsecondary success begins an institutional commitment to creating a culture of caring that drives decision making across the institution. Once that commitment...
- March 26, 2024
Formerly incarcerated workers should be an employer’s dream, especially in a tight labor market: They are loyal, hardworking and perform as well or better than...