In an economy driven by highly skilled and educated talent, the Detroit Regional Chamber is committed to ensuring its members and the Detroit Region have the talent necessary to thrive in the 21st century. It’s why the Chamber set a 60% educational attainment goal by 2030 for the Detroit Region, and why it’s developed Michigan’s most robust education and talent portfolio to reach that goal.

In recent years, the Chamber’s work in education and talent has grown exponentially evolving into a wide swath of successful programs and collective impact work focused on systems change. Due to this considerable growth, the Chamber has repackaged these efforts under a new brand: TalentEd.

Combining the words “Talent” and “Education,” the umbrella brand is designed to better communicate to the business community how it can work with the Chamber and support and participate in building a robust talent pipeline that meets employers’ needs.

While the nature of the Chamber’s work and individual programs remain the same, they will now be unified under the TalentEd brand, which has four areas of focus:

• Increasing access to post-high school education.
• Boosting student success and college graduation rates.
• Helping graduates stay and thrive in the Detroit Region.
• Empowering employers to led talent development.

Under the TalentEd brand, five things define the Chamber’s work.

Top Talent Experts Guides Our Strategy

The Chamber’s education and talent strategy is shaped by a CEO Talent Council comprised of more than 20 business leaders from a variety of industries and led by Kelly’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Quigley. It’s also informed and implemented through the Detroit Drives Degrees Leadership Council, which is co-chaired by Ora Pescovitz, President of Oakland University, and Jamie Jacob, Chief Executive Officer of Ajax Paving.

Proven, Scalable Programs Backed by One of Michigan’s Largest Business Organizations

Based on the success of its existing programs, the Chamber is positioned to identify, develop, and scale programs that are needed to develop tomorrow’s talent now.

These include programs such as Detroit Drives Degrees, which convenes stakeholders from higher education, K-12, business, philanthropy, and government to coordinate efforts to increase access to higher education and completion rates for enrolled students.

The Chamber also administers the Detroit Promise, providing approximately 2,000 Detroit students with a tuition-free path through college at 32 partner higher education institutions. The Promise is funded and overseen by the Detroit Promise Zone Authority Board, chaired by Dr. Iris Taylor. The TalentEd team builds on our commitment to Promise students by connecting 300 to 500 Promise students a year to career information/workshops, internships, and jobs.

Data and Actionable Research That Sets Foundation for Action

The Chamber annually publishes the State of Education and Talent Report which tracks key measures to achieving our 60% by 2030 educational attainment and cutting racial equity gap in half goals. It provides the foundation for data-driven collective action to identify and scale successful talent development programs.

Advocacy, Policy, and Influence in Government

With one of the most effective and well-respected advocacy teams in Michigan, the Chamber advocates for policies that improve educational outcomes and workforce development. The TalentEd team collaborates closely with the Chamber’s Public Policy and Business Advocacy team on statewide efforts to ensure higher education is more affordable and to support employers in upskilling their workforce for enhanced competitiveness.

Bringing Change to Education Systems Through Collective Action

The Chamber is uniquely positioned to drive collective impact through its network of business, philanthropy, higher education, community groups, and talent. It brings the region’s leadership together to achieve common goals and integrate their actions to bring positive change to the complex educational system so that it delivers new and improved outcomes.