Michigan model ties credentials, data system and grants to workforce progress, expert says

Claire Luz, associate professor at Michigan State University and founding director of the IMPART Alliance, outlined Michigan’s integrated strategies model for addressing the direct care workforce shortage. She said the model combines increased wages and benefits, professionalization through competency standards and credentials, and socio-cultural change to raise the value placed on direct care work. “We landed on a simple maxim… make sure that people have the competencies they need that are relevant to the job they are being asked to do,” Claire said, describing how the advisory committee developed shared definitions and competency standards.

Luz described concrete outcomes the state has achieved: a consensus definition of direct care workers, 15 statewide competency guidelines adopted by the committee, wage increases preserved in the recent state budget, and a data and credentialing infrastructure supported by multiple grants. She reported a $2,800,000 state general-fund award to Empire Alliance for training and credentialing infrastructure, and a $25,000,000 American Rescue Plan Act allocation to provide grants for recruitment and retention and to establish a Direct Care Career Center housed at Michigan State University. Luz also described the multi-year work to build a statewide data structure and transfer it to MSU to support ongoing research and reporting.