In early 2024, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity provided nearly $350,000 in Barrier Removal and Employment Success (BRES) funding to Ann Arbor-based Michigan Works! Southeast. The state funding is designed to “remove barriers to employment for more Michiganders.” So far in Michigan Works! Southeast’s five-county service area, the funding has gone toward assisting people with purchasing work items, tools, and transportation, along with providing emergency resources to job seekers. Additional uses for the funding are under development.
According to Shamar Herron, executive director for Michigan Works! Southeast, the funding has been critical to address community members’ needs. The organization serves a broad swath of the public and all demographics in Hillsdale, Jackson, Lenawee, Livingston and Washtenaw counties.
“Since this is state funding and not federal, we don’t have the restrictions that come along with those dollars — the so-called red tape that limits eligibility and requires reporting,” Herron says…