Saginaw Future is a non-profit organization that works with businesses to increase jobs and investment opportunities for businesses in the Saginaw area. Recently celebrating 20 years, the nonprofit is more active than ever with projects that span a variety of purposes.
One of the main things they aim to do is work with base-job companies, which are companies creating jobs in the Saginaw area and bringing money into the region, rather than sending it out. We spoke with President JoAnn Crary about what Saginaw Future does for businesses and the community.
Mid Michigan Second Wave: What should people know about Saginaw Future?
JoAnn Crary: Saginaw Future is really all about partnerships and collaboration, so we work closely with business, labor, education and government--those are the key players that help our community to become more competitive. Something else is that the majority of our funding comes from over 200 businesses, but we also have contracts or agreements for service with the city, the county and sixteen local units of government and those have existed for over twenty years, so having that partnership with both business and the government has really made Saginaw Future successful.
MMSW: What do you do to help these base-job companies expand?
JC: Every business is different. We assist companies with everything from finding a site to facilitating with assistance with local government. They might need a zoning change, they might want a tax abatement, they might need financing, so we try to [eliminate] the competitive issues that would prevent a company from expanding. Last year we met with over 200 of our top base-job providers to find out what their plans were for expansion and try to identify barriers to growth. So our job is really to reduce the barriers so that the companies can grow here.
MMSW: How does Saginaw Future hope to influence Saginaw and the surrounding communities?
JC: Most of our work is assisting individual companies but we also work on broader initiatives to help impact the area. For example right now we’re working in an eleven-county region to establish a revolving loan fund, to help provide gap financing. So if a company wants to buy a new piece of equipment and let’s say they can get financing for half of it from the bank and they might have 10 percent, then the revolving loan fund will fill that gap.
MMSW: What does Saginaw Future look forward to and hope to do in the future?
JC: We also have broader initiatives that we try to accomplish and one of them is to help support the location of the Central Michigan University College of Medicine. That is going to have a huge impact on our entire region and, really, the future of healthcare because these will be the talent for our future.
We are developing the Great Lakes Solar Technology Park: it’s a 240-acre property near Hemlock Semiconductor to attract the solar industry. We’ve acquired the property, now we’re constructing the road, sewer and water, and again we’re targeting that area to attract some of the solar customers of Hemlock and the supply chain.
The other thing that we’re doing is working with our business education partnership to try and pursue a certified work-ready community status, so that’s very exciting. We’re just going in all directions.
MMSW: Why Saginaw? What makes the Saginaw community a good place for companies?
JC: When a company makes an investment decision, there are really two factors that they look at: one is business factors and the second is quality of life factors. If you look at the business factors, we have a highly skilled work force here, we have generations of manufacturing expertise, and that can’t be duplicated in other areas of the United States. We have a competitive business environment here.
Our communities are very business friendly, so it isn’t the case where we’re putting up barriers to keep companies out or to limit their growth: we welcome it here, our communities are very supportive and provide incentives like tax abatements.
Then if you look at quality of life factors, we have two of the largest hospitals in our region and we have patients that come from almost all the way to the bridge, over through the thumb, and to the west, so we attract patients from somewhere around 20 counties.
Also, Frankenmuth was one of the five blue ribbon schools in Michigan that were honored by former First Lady Laura Bush, we have one of the top schools in the state under the MEAP scoring with the Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy.
If you’re raising a family, where do you want to live? You want to live where you’ll have great health care, good schools, safe communities, affordable housing and access to arts and culture, entertainment and recreation. So those are all the factors that companies look for and those are areas that we have strengths in.
MMSW: In your opinion, where does the city have to head to be successful and see growth?
JC: I think we have to continue to push for life-long learning. Every person has to be responsible for continuing to learn through their entire life, so we encourage people to go on beyond high school and get at least a two-year degree.
One of the most important needs in the future is going to be the skilled workforce and companies will gravitate to areas that have skilled and talented people.
MMSW: What companies are stepping up to help these goals forward?
JC: Nexteer Automotive has been involved, as well as Dow Corning Corporation. A lot of their focus has been in supporting the STEM program--science, technology, engineering and math. Even the governor has come out with some new initiatives or new incentives for areas that support the STEM curriculum, and our area has been on board with that for several years. It really builds on what we have in Michigan with all of the automotive engineering talent we have that is not matched anywhere in the world. A lot of our young people are going to universities and they get trained and then they leave, so it’s so important that we have the jobs connected with the universities.
MMSW: What can companies or citizens do to help further these goals?
JC: I think part of it is through education. Twenty and 30 years ago, somebody could graduate from high school and walk in and get a job at one of the auto facilities. Well, that doesn’t happen anymore, you have to have advanced training.
Let’s just look at Hemlock Semiconductor. The company had invested $2.5 billion over five years, and they needed a workforce that could understand how to work with chemicals, so they needed chemical engineers. Delta College and Michigan Works teamed up and Michigan Works recruited people. They had to have some college classes, they had to have manufacturing experience, and then they had to pass an entry test to get into a program called Chemical Operator Fast Start, and the person then went through 480 hours over a four month period--it took a two year program and accelerated it into four months and then those employees were able to apply for jobs at Hemlock Semiconductor.
We’ve expanded to Advanced Battery Fast Start, a Solar Fast Start, and we’re doing an Advanced Manufacturing Fast Start--that one’s just starting--it’s a great way to train people that are maybe displaced auto workers, into new industries quickly.
That’s the key: connecting our talented workforce with the specific jobs. The better we get at that, I think the more successful we’ll be as a community, and at the end of the day we just want people to have meaningful jobs, use their talents to the best of their abilities and have enough of an income to raise and support their families.
Lucy Hough is a freelance writer based in Northern Michigan.