Progress 03/15/23 to 03/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Migrant and seasonal farmworkers are the primary audience we have reached to build trust and develop appropriate education opportunities for their career advancement. Relevant employers, state agencies, nonprofits, and educators of migrant and seasonal farmworkers are also part of the target audience and critical stakeholders for this work. We have provided outreach and promotion to them to strengthen outreach to our primary audience as well as coordination of supports. Changes/Problems:The project has encountered delays and has identified the need to shift certain plans, including the language that was originally proposed. The project team is working with our USDA program officer to facilitate these changes. Some of the problems we have encountered that have necessitated these changes are described below. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge project partners and has prevented community outreach at the level desired. The conditions in place now are very different than those in place at the time of application given the pandemic. Additionally, organizations we hope to engage, including employers and educators, are over capacity and unable to respond in the way hoped. Partner organizations are also experiencing capacity challenges as they continue to respond to COVID-19 and its impacts. Through data collection activities, we identified the following barriers which have resulted in project delays and the need to be flexible. 40% of Michiganders are not participating in the workforce, which has opened other opportunities for MSFWs to advance into better jobs in other sectors. These better opportunities exist in other state's too, so not the same need for workers to move to Michigan. Workers identified other primary needs including Spanish, technology or internet needs, concerns with documentation status, and housing, transportation and childcare needs. Workers want training in Spanish, offered at better times and locations, has high relevance to current job, and provides supports such as childcare, transportation, and housing, and is accessible/affordable. Workers also were concerned with job quality aspects common for the sector, including seasonality, low pay, high work hours, lack of housing, limited advancement opportunities and training. To address these challenges and ensure that our project results in the intended benefit and impact for our desired audience, we have identified and proposedthese needed changes: Goal:The Michigan Agriculture and Food Systems Workforce Advancement Initiative (MAFSWAI) seeks to help migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFWs) access the supports and skills needed to understand and attain advanced and higher quality agriculture and food system employment opportunities, thereby supplying MI food growers, processers, and distributors with workforce they need to fill critical jobs at all skill levels. Objectives: Support the connection to and quality delivery of migrant and seasonal farmworker employee support services, mentoring, skill development, and career awareness and advancement in support of greater work and economic stability. Help employers increase their support and understanding of migrant and seasonal farmworkers' needs tied to quality jobs and advancement to support greater employee wellbeing, recruitment, and retention. Other changes that have occurred in the past year are that we found out that two key partners are no longer able to participate and we have identifed that to achieve these new objectives, we need to reallocate funding and identify other partners to support this work. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Training opportunities and project opportunities have been presented to key communities of interest in a variety of ways including through: Monthly informational meetings with students in the High School Equivalency Program to discuss agricultural pathways and opportunities. Reaching about 50 students each month (most duplicated). Speaking engagements with migrant and seasonal farmworker providers (such as Migrant Resource Council, Migrant Education Program, etc) at community events. Joint outreach efforts with partners serving MSFWs, agricultural liasonshave disseminated information to MSFWs and employers with the purpose of providing awareness of the training opportunities that exist. Networking at Migrant Resource Meetings (MRCs), attending MSFW workgroups, roundtable meetings, onsite outreach, community events, or at MSFW gatherings, agricultural liasons disseminatedinformation to MSFWs and employers on opportunities available for training, professional development, career pathways available to improve employees' skills and for employers to fill critical jobs. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The MAFSWAI team is in the middle of a project change request. Throughout the project, it was identified that the objectives originally proposed no longer fit the needs of the priority population we are serving and that other objectives would be more impactful. Throughout this next and final year (if approved), the project team will be working on the following goals: Support the connection to and quality delivery of migrant and seasonal farmworker employee support services, mentoring, skill development, and career awareness and advancement in support of greater work and economic stability. Help employers increase their support and understanding of migrant and seasonal farmworkers' needs tied to quality jobs and advancement to support greater employee wellbeing, recruitment, and retention. To support success, project partners have each outlined a set of relevant activities for the new objectives and a timeline and they have begun working on these new activities. New high level activities include: Identify broadly for MSFWs in the grant regions what is required to: recruit and retain workers, connect workers to skill development, and connect workers to financial assistance and supportive services for success Work with existing food processor and grower collaboratives to understand what education they need to offer or connect workers to training as well as recruit and retain employees. Work with existing agriculture technology workforce training programs at community colleges and other education programs and training providers (not just 2-year degree, technical, or industry-recognized credential providers) to: translate existing promotional material for priority audience market their programs to priority audience develop recruitment and retention strategies, including a strong academic counseling or mentoring component, that will support farmworker recruitment, retention, and success exposure to credit and non-credit educational programs connect potential and current participants enrolled or completing programs to supportive services and employment opportunities Work with MSFW support organizations and other workforce and supportive service organizations to identify relevant supports and participants to engage through the program Identify partner organizations able to sustain the work of this grant as well as identify related funding sources and work in the system that can sustain this work post-grant Document project challenges and successes a develop a guidebook of lessons learned

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact Statement:Migrant and seasonal farmworkers face difficult job conditions and uncertainty as well as often, lower job quality, including difficult working conditions and low wages. Advancement into better, higher-paying jobs can be hard for this group given their rural, transient location which can make accessing education and training difficult; the cost of education and training; potential language or cultural barriers; and the difficulty of finding supports that are in tune to their unique needs. Agriculture employers face repeated turnover and are often not in a place to easily address job quality concerns for workers. MAFSWAI seeks to help Michigan employers, including food growers, processors, and distributors, develop the technology and data savvy workforce they need to fill critical jobs by providing more job-based, experiential learning opportunities and credentials for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. This will in turn allow migrant and seasonal farmworkers the ability to advance into longer-term, higher-quality, and higher-sustaining jobs. In Year 3 of 4, project partners continued to holdone-on-one meetings and roundtables with employers to identify employers' training needs and available training/educational opportunities for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Project partners also continued to support migrant and seasonal farmworkers through connecting them to educational opportunities, supports, and employment opportunities. Partners alsocontinued educational partner outreach to support amending programs to align with MSFW needs; engaged 50+ MSFWs in classroom training, on-the-job training, apprenticeships, and other training programs; provided information about further agriculture educational opportunities to 50 students who completed High School Equivalency programs; and developed an asset map to help education, workforce, and community partners identify relevant trainings and supports available to MSFWs. Project partners also spent considerable time during this reporting period addressing emerging project challenges and identifying appopriate solutionsand project changes. Project partners worked together to identify new goals, objectives, and activities that will foster greater impact for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. They also spent considerable time identifying new roles, funding, and timelines to support these changes. Project partners met with their USDA Program Officer to discuss changes and the process as well and are looking forward to finalizing these changes at the start of the final project year. Objective 1: Improve agricultural business viability with a more reliable supply of skilled workers Major activities completed/experiments conducted: Employer outreach conducted through one-on-one meetings and through attending business roundtables to understand employer needs to build into training and educational opportunities for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Employer outreach to foster an understanding of migrant and seasonal farmworker needs to result in better recruitment and retention of workers. Connection of migrant and seasonal farmeworkersto employmentopportunities through project partners. Discussion of employer and migrant and seasonal farmworkerneeds with educational partners. Data collected: Employer and migrant and seasonal farmworker outreach numbers, migrant and seasonal farmworker placement, employer needs Summary statistics and discussion of results: Too early to report Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: Too early to report Objective 2: Provide additional resources for education and training providers and farmworker support organizations to engage with businesses in program design and pathway development. Major activities completed/experiments conducted: This objective was not a focus this year. Data collected: Nothing to report for this year. Summary statistics and discussion of results:Nothing to report for this year. Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized:Nothing to report for this year. Objective 3: Support migrant and seasonal farmworkers, through developing skills and training opportunities, thus enabling greater work stability and economic opportunity. Major activities completed/experiments conducted: Continued educational partner outreach to support amending programs to consider migrant and seasonal farmworker needs One partner used the initiative toengage 50+ MSFWs in classroom training, on the-job training (OJT), Ag tech education, apprenticeships, and other training programs. Another partner had 50 students complete their HSE. These students were then presented further agriculture educational opportunities. Partners continued to discuss migrant and seasonal farmworker needs and support throughout the year, including developing an asset map that could be used to identify relevant trainings and supports based on need. Patners collected data through outreach on educational barriers and needed supports. Data collected: Migrant and seasonal farmworker outreach, migrant and seasonal farmworker supports received, migrant and seasonal barriers, and partner outreach. Summary statistics and discussion of results: Too early to report. Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: Too early to report. Objective 4: Ensure the mentoring, coaching and support services for people as they work to earn industry recognized skills and credentials. Major activities completed/experiments conducted:This objective was not a focus this year. Data collected:Nothing to report for this year. Summary statistics and discussion of results:Nothing to report for this year. Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized:Nothing to report for this year.

Publications

Progress 03/15/22 to 03/14/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Migrant and seasonal farm workers are the primary audience we have reached to build trust and develop appropriate education opportunities for their career advancement. Employers, state agencies, nonprofits, and educators of migrant and seasonal farm workers are also part of the target audience and critical stakeholders for this work. We have provided outreach and promotion to them to strengthen outreach to our primary audience as well as coordination of supports. During this reporting period, we more intentionally engaged with employers to understand their needs in designing the program. Changes/Problems:The project has encountered delays and has identified the need to shift certain plans to achieve the major objectives and activities (while keeping the same goal and objectives in place). Authentic partnership building is a vital piece to ensure sustainability of this project and that requires a level of trust. Working at the speed of trust building has been a critical piece of this project. Earning that trust required moving slower than we originally planned with finalizing the design although we are now at the point of finalization which is very exciting. We are working to engage with a few more partners and then will have a plan in place (ideally by end of summer). Personnel on this project has changed and a new more permanent director at the MSU Institute for Agriculture Technology is now in place. Changes in personnel slow the work further and have exacerbated the delays in this work. Another piece of partnership building is ensuring appropriate involvement and representation. It is hard to get all the required players to have availability at the same time to provide the necessary and feedback and support. However, we are continuing to adapt and adjust and get into a better flow. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge project partners and has prevented community outreach at the level desired. The conditions in place now are very different than those in place at the time of application given the pandemic. Additionally, organizations we hope to engage, including employers and educators, are seriously over capacity and unable to respond in the way they anticipated for this project. Partner organizations are also experiencing capacity challenges as they continue to respond to COVID-19 and its impacts. Through data collection activities, we identified the following barriers which have resulted in project delays and the need to be flexible. 40% of Michiganders are not participating in the workforce, which has opened other opportunities for MSFWs to advance into better jobs in other sectors. These better opportunities exist in other state's too, so not the same need for workers to move to Michigan. Workers identified other primary needs including Spanish, technology or internet needs, concerns with documentation status, and housing, transportation and childcare needs. Workers want training in Spanish, offered at better times and locations, has high relevance to current job, and provides supports such as childcare, transportation, and housing, and is accessible/affordable. Workers also were concerned with job quality aspects common for the sector, including seasonality, low pay, high work hours, lack of housing, limited advancement opportunities and training. We still plan to provide career pathways programming and support to migrant and seasonal farmworkers, but we also now plan to provide more connections to supports that will happen prior to the pathways, as that seems to be where the most critical needs are today for this population. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Through speaking engagements at the Dairy Farmers of America Conference, and the West Michigan Food Processors Association Networking Meetings, the project hasdisseminated information and aided in professional development, by providing awareness of the opportunities that exist to educate and promote MSFWs into high tech jobs for sustainability. Through theMSU-MSS, a program titled La Cosecha has provided the opportunity to provide Farm Management Training to Latino Farmers who would otherwise not have received such training through general course offerings. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity shared project information in multiple ways including through outreach events, their newsletter, and invited participation to workers and employers through the MAFSWAI website. One on one conversations were had with migrant and seasonal farmworkers with personnel from the Michigan Food and Farming Systems team and the Michigan department of labor and economic opportunity agriculture labor services team. Information shared included the project and an invitation to provide information that will help shape the program in the most appropriate way to reach migrant and seasonal farm workers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue project management and implementation activities, including managing work plans and timelines and convening partners; invite more partners into regular collaboration to extend reach and systemic change. Develop and align the appropriate supports and assets to implement the project design and support migrant and seasonal farm worker advancement. Continue to engage and convene key stakeholders including migrant and seasonal farmworkers, employers, and educators in the design, implementation, and evaluation of the project. Develop sustainable funding and related to supports. Determine appropriate dissemination opportunities from project activities. Pursue translating project materials, including pathway maps, into Spanish for accessibility.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact Statement: Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers face difficult job conditions and uncertainty as well as often, lower job quality outcomes, including difficult working conditions and low wages. Advancement into better, higher-paying jobs can be hard for this group given their rural, transient location which can make accessing education and training difficult; the cost of education and training; potential language or cultural barriers; and the difficulty of finding supports that are in tune to their unique needs. Agriculture employers face repeated turnover and are often not in a place to easily address job quality concerns for workers. MAFSWAI seeks to help Michigan employers, including food growers, processors, and distributors develop the technology and data savvy workforce they need to fill critical jobs by providing more job- based, experiential learning opportunities and credentials for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. This will in turn, allow migrant and seasonal farmworkers the ability to advance into longer-term, higher-quality, and higher-sustaining jobs. The project plans to do this through the development of new education and career pathways and supporting community outreach to ensure a project that reflects the needs of the communities involved as well as participation in the new programs. In Year 2 of 4, project partners continued to lay the foundation for this work through the development and management of the network needed to develop these pathways and through outreach to the communities we are hoping to impact. This allowed for initial project design work to begin, including conducting outreach to inform career pathways program design. While still too early in the project to see the outcomes desired, authentic partnership building, grounded in trust, is well underway and a vital piece to ensure sustainability of this project. The partners and stakeholders involved, as well as those we hope to serve, are aware that we are moving forward and designing supports that are culturally-responsive and reflect their most critical needs and wishes. Improve agrigulture business viability with a more reliable supply of skilled workers. Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Employer outreach conducted through one-on-one meetings and through attending business roundtables to understand employer needs to build into training and educational opportunities for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Formal interview and survey protocols also used in Year 2 to capture feedback to inform program design. Network development and authentic partnership building to lay the groundwork for future success in this objective. Co-outreach and engagement with Telamon's National Farmworker Jobs Program. Program planning and design work to support achieving this objective. Data collected: Formal interview and survey responses collected and summarized. Informal notes for other outreach events were taken. Summary statistics and discussion of results: Too early to report Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: Too early to repor Provide additional resources for education and training providers and farmworker support organizations to engage with businesses in program design and pathway development. Major activities completed / experiments conducted: ?Network development and authentic partnership building to lay the groundwork for future success in this objective Presentations to and engagement with Michigan Works! staff around business services and learner and workers services. Continued planning and engagement with MSU IAT around adapting programs for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Continued planning and engagement with MSU HEP and Migrant Student Services. Connection to existing training and education resources through Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) Resource Hub. Program planning and design work to support achieving this objective. Data collected: Too early to report Summary statistics and discussion of results: Too early to report Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: Too early to report Support migrant and seasonal farmworkers, through developing skills and training opportunities, thus enabling greater work stability and economic opportunity. Major activities completed / experiments conducted: Formal interviews completed with migrant and seasonal farmworkers to understand their training needs. Outreach to educational partners started. Network development and authentic partnership building to lay the groundwork for future success in this objective. Migrant and seasonal farmworkers who reached out to MAFSWAI supported with resources. Migrant and seasonal farmworkers participating in MSU HEP supported with resources. Identifying and promoting registered apprenticeship in the agriculture industry. Program planning and design work to support achieving this objective. Data collected: Interview data collected and summarized. Tracking data on migrant and student farmworker engagement collected. Summary statistics and discussion of results: Too early to report Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: Too early to report Ensure the mentoring, coaching, and support services for people as they work to earn industry recognized skills and credentials. Major activities completed / experiments conducted: Network development and authentic partnership building to lay the groundwork for future success in this objective. Program planning and design work to support achieving this objective. Data collected: Too early to report Summary statistics and discussion of results: Too early to report Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: Too early to report

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Understanding Career Pathway Opportunities in the Food and Agriculture Industry, Michigan Works! Association Annual Conference, September 2022.

Progress 03/15/21 to 03/14/22

Outputs
Target Audience:Migrant and seasonal farm workers are the primary audience we have reached to build trust and develop appropriate education opportunities for their career advancement. Employers, state agencies, nonprofits, and educators of migrant and seasonal farm workers are also part of the target audience and critical stakeholders for this work. We have provided outreach and promotion to them to strengthen outreach to our primary audience as well as coordination of supports. Changes/Problems:Jeannine's La Prad, Project Director, and Mary Freeman, left the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce early in year 1, requiring some extra time for Megan Williams (new Project Director) to transition into this new role on the project. Megan, who was originally an evaluator and researcher on the project, was also replaced with a new team member, Chris Webb, who needed time to acclimate as well. It is important to acknowledge in working with migrant and seasonal farmworkers that there is a seasonality in which we can engage our target audience, and the timing to engage these populations is vital. With PI changes, we began engaging the target audience later than planned, and the seasonality of their work and availability had an impact. We anticipate this not being a problem as we move into year 2.? Authentic partnership building is a vital piece to ensure sustainability of this project and that requires a level of trust. Working at the speed of trust building has been a critical piece of this project. Earning that trust required moving slower than we originally planned with finalizing the design. Another piece of partnership building is ensuring appropriate involvement and representation. It is hard to get all the required players to have availability at the same time to provide the necessary and feedback and support. However, we are continuing to adapt and adjust and get into a better flow. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge project partners and has prevented community outreach at the level desired. Additionally, organizations we hope to engage, including employers and educators, are over capacity and unable to respond in the way hoped. Partner organizations are also experiencing capacity challenges as they continue to respond to COVID-19 and its impacts. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity shared project information in multiple ways including through outreach events, their newsletter, and invited participation to workers and employers through the MAFSWAI website. Career pathway maps were shared on the MSU Center for Regional food systems website.? One on one conversations were had with migrant and seasonal farmworkers with personnel from the Michigan Food and Farming Systems team and the Michigan department of labor and economic opportunity agriculture labor services team. Information shared included the project and an invitation to provide information that will help shape the program in the most appropriate way to reach migrant and seasonal farm workers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue project management and implementation activities, including managing work plans and timelines and convening partners; invite more partners in to regular collaboration to extend reach and systemic change Continue and complete stakeholder feedback interviews, including compiling results, to inform the final project design and ensure the model reflects the needs of the community. Finalize project design, including sectors and occupations of interest for education and training, and resulting evaluation materials and regular data collection Develop and align the appropriate supports and assets to implement the project design and support migrant and seasonal farm worker advancement Continue to engage and convene key stakeholders including migrant and seasonal farmworkers, employers, and educators in the design, implementation, and evaluation of the project Develop sustainable funding and related to supports Determine appropriate dissemination opportunities from project activities? Pursue translating project materials, including pathway maps, into Spanish for accessibility

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact Statement: Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers face difficult job conditions and uncertainty as well as often, lower job quality outcomes, including difficult working conditions and low wages. Advancement into better, higher-paying jobs can be hard for this group given their rural, transient location which can make accessing education and training difficult; the cost of education and training; potential language or cultural barriers; and the difficulty of finding supports that are in tune to their unique needs. Agriculture employers face repeated turnover and are often not in a place to easily address job quality concerns for workers. MAFSWAI seeks to help Michigan employers, including food growers, processors, and distributors develop the technology and data savvy workforce they need to fill critical jobs by providing more job- based, experiential learning opportunities and credentials for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. This will in turn, allow migrant and seasonal farmworkers the ability to advance into longer-term, higher-quality, and higher-sustaining jobs. The project plans to do this through the development of new education and career pathways and supporting community outreach to ensure a project that reflects the needs of the communities involved as well as participation in the new programs. In Year 1 of 4, project partners laid the foundation for this work through the development of the network needed to develop these pathways and through outreach to the communities we are hoping to impact. This allowed for initial project design work to begin. While still too early in the project to see the outcomes desired, authentic partnership building, grounded in trust, is well underway and a vital piece to ensure sustainability of this project. The partners and stakeholders involved, as well as those we hope to serve, are aware that we are moving forward and designing supports that are culturally-responsive and reflect their most critical needs and wishes. Ojectives Improve agricultural business viability with a more reliable supply of skilled workers 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Employer outreach conducted through one on one meetings to understand employer needs and build into training and educational opportunities for migrant and seasonal farmworkers. More formal interview protocols were designed to be used in Year 2 for capturing these feedback. Network development and authentic partnership building to lay the groundwork for future success in this objective. Program planning and design work to support achieving this objective. 2) Data collected; Employer Engagement outreach sheet developed; list of all employers in the target region developed with contact information; Interview outreach tracking sheet developed for more formal interviews in Year 2. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results andToo early to report 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized.Too early to report Provide additional resources for education and training providers and farmworker support organizations to engage with businesses in program design and pathway development. 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Network development and authentic partnership building to lay the groundwork for future success in this objective. Pathway map development that will contribute to project design and is available to stakeholders Connection to existing training and education resources through Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) Resource Hub Program planning and design work to support achieving this objective. 2) Data collected; Too early to resport 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results and Too early to report 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Too early to report Support migrant and seasonal farmworkers, through developing skills and training opportunities, thus enabling greater work stability and economic opportunity. 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Formal interviews started with migrant and seasonal farmworkers to understand their training needs. Outreach to educational partners started. Network development and authentic partnership building to lay the groundwork for future success in this objective. Michigan workforce agency facilitated a webinar for one-stop centers on improving service delivery to migrant and seasonal farm workers. Program planning and design work to support achieving this objective. 2) Data collected; Interview data were collected. 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results and Too early to report 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Too early to report Ensure the mentoring, coaching and support services for people as they work to earn industry recognized skills and credentials. The partners acknowledge the great challenges that MSFWs and their families are facing and are dedicated to increasing awareness throughout MI by promoting, communicating, and fostering a culture that encourages and supports the expansion of career services, employment training programs, mentoring and coaching, supportive services, and housing assistance designed to serve MSFW youth and adults. 1) Major activities completed / experiments conducted; Network development and authentic partnership building to lay the ground work for future success in this objective. Program planning and design work to support achieving this objective. 2) Data collected; Too early to report 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results and Too early to report 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Too early to report

Publications