(calming music) - Hello West Michigan reminds you, adventure awaits.

Let's talk about the role of this organization based in Grand Rapids, serving West Michigan, executive director, Rachel Gray.

- Hello.

- Good that you are here.

And of course, program manager, Jessica Kuster, doing great things.

All right, the toughest question I have, what is Hello West Michigan?

- Hello West Michigan is a nonprofit that is all about promoting West Michigan as a great place to live and work.

And so we were started by employers back in 2007, when they could not find the people to fill their open positions.

They were having to recruit people from outside of West Michigan.

And that recruitment process takes a lot longer than trying to get someone who is local.

And they found that that people just at that time were not that interested in coming to West Michigan.

And so they really wanted to figure out, how can we promote the region as a great place to live and work, and how can we make it easier for recruiters to really sell the region when they're recruiting a new candidate from outside of the area.

- And cut to the chase, here we are in 2022, kind of still doing some of the same?

- Yes, it's interesting how the talent market has changed.

Certainly, you know, 2007 was before the recession, the recession happened, the need for hiring was not as big then, of course, but they said, let's keep moving forward with what we're trying here, because we know that when the economy does recover, we're gonna need these same resources.

And that was really, really forward thinking by our founders to say, let's keep going with this, because certainly when the economy recovered, the reputation of Michigan did not recover as quickly.

And so, especially in 2011, 2012, 2013, when I came on board to the organization, people really needed convincing to move here.

Now I do think the state has made a lot of great strides in our reputation.

You know, the Pure Michigan campaign.

So many people have stickers on their cars or wear, you know, mitten kind of t-shirts and things like that.

So that's fantastic, but really it's all about how do we get people to move here, and how do we get people to say yes to moving here.

- And your overall structure, you're part of The Right Place, which is all about economic development.

- That's right, so Hello West Michigan is a strategic partner of The Right Place.

We work very closely with them, because The Right Place is all about retaining and attracting businesses to West Michigan.

And of course, having a workforce that's ready and available, that's part of business attraction.

And so we work really closely in concert with The Right Place.

They work on the businesses and we work on the people.

- Yes, and Hello West Michigan, the geography involved is not only Grand Rapids based, but?

- That's correct, so we are a regional organization.

We cover 13 counties, it's technically called region four.

We go from Ionia County out to the lake shore, and Allegan and Barry County to the south, all the way up to Mason County in the north, which is where Ludington is.

So it's definitely a big area.

But when you think about the commuting patterns, it's very easy to get from say, Muskegon to Grand Rapids, or Grand Rapids to Holland, if you live in one place and work in another.

So that's really why we want to represent the region, especially when you consider, we're bringing in people from other areas that have much longer commute times, they're used to a commute like that.

And so if there's, you know, a job for them in Holland and they wanna live in a big city, they have that option.

Vice versa, they still have that option and have a really easy commute.

- Options are good, so are easy commutes.

Jessica Kuster, how important are programs within Hello West Michigan?

- Well, programs make up just about everything that we do.

So we, you know, a lot of it goes straight to the candidates and providing them connections to companies here in West Michigan, so our local employers.

And one of those programs is our weekly resume pack, where candidates who are outside of the area and interested in relocating here, or maybe they recently relocated to West Michigan, they can upload their resume on our website, we'll connect with them directly, have a conversation, and really learn what they want to do with their career.

What types of opportunities they're interested in.

And we take that information, we attach it to their resume, and we actually start sending that out to companies here that are members of ours, and local companies that might just need to access more candidates that they wouldn't otherwise have access to, because they're not local, and maybe they're not as familiar with our local employers.

- Wow, so making connections, making networking happen, takes both sides to do that.

So that's the resume pack?

- Yes, the weekly resume pack.

- This is all available on your website?

- All on our website, at HelloWestmichigan.com.

- Very nice.

Let's talk more about what's happening here very shortly when it comes to interns, take that away.

- Yes, interns, our incoming professionals.

So over the summer we have our program called West Michigan Intern Connect, and it's a summer program of resources and events, specifically for college age students or interns to get exposure to not only life in West Michigan, but also our local employers.

There's a lot that they need to learn about the abundant economic opportunities that are available for them here, and we wanna show them that.

So we started with a conference on June 15th and that's a professional development conference for them to get exposure to some topics that aren't necessarily covered in the classroom.

And so we'll talk about personal finances, how to really take your maybe concerns, or feeling under-prepared, and turn that into confidence when you step into your first full-time role, or maybe your first internship, and some networking opportunities, of course, with local employers and with their peer interns, and then a young professional panel, "All About Adulting", and really how to make it in the real world.

We also have a series of virtual connection events that follow the main event.

And so we believe that the networking portion of, you know, making connections and building a professional network here in West Michigan is really valuable and important for these students.

So we've added a series over the course of the summer.

We'll have four different sessions for them to connect with our local professionals here and really start building strong relationships with them.

So that at the end of summer, when they're done, maybe with their first internship, or maybe they're ready to, you know, look for their first full-time job.

If there's not one on the table, we want them to know people to connect with so that they can hopefully find a job here.

But if there is a job offer on the table, we want that to be an easy yes, because they fell in love with the area and what West Michigan has to offer for them.

- Who wouldn't fall in love with the Blue Bridge?

- Exactly.

- That's right.

- I wanna obviously talk about a couple other programs, but back to you, Rachel, are you able to keep numbers on those who are connecting and those who are finding their homes back in West Michigan?

- As best we can.

And so that weekly resume pack, that's really one of our main metrics.

So since 2013, since we started that program, we've sent over 3,500 resumes.

So those are people that are either looking to relocate here, or maybe here and unemployed that we wanted to retain.

Over 3,500 people we've sent out, and over 50% of them have found full-time employment.

And those are just the people who told us that, not everyone tells us.

So our success rate may be higher than that.

But we also look at the in migrant population to West Michigan.

So how many people are moving here, and over the last ten years that number has risen, and it's accounted for a good chunk of our growth, our population growth here in West Michigan.

- I'm doing the math.

2013, next year will be 2023, ten years.

- Yes, of the weekly resume pack.

- What is Rapid Roots?

- So Rapid Roots is actually one of our newest programs, designed specifically for executives that are new to West Michigan.

And it's a way for them to kind of get toward around West Michigan, get to know other executives that have also recently moved to the area.

We cover, over the course of six weeks, with this cohort, we cover a few different topics.

The first is the history of West Michigan, the economy, the arts, sports and recreation, outdoor activities, and friend finding, you know, what's the science behind that.

How do we make friends when we move to a new community, especially as grown adults, and then also food, dining and nightlife.

We know we have an abundance of all of these things here in West Michigan.

And so we wanna take them around to the different counties in West Michigan and showcase, you know, what those features are in those communities.

And so we've taken them out to the lake shore.

We will take them out to Newaygo County soon, downtown Grand Rapids, and really show them all around, but all while building a network for them to have with these other professionals that are in their cohort.

- These are executives that have said yes to coming back to Michigan?

- Yes, exactly.

They have moved here or are moving here.

In our first cohort, we had someone who actually flew in for the first three sessions because she had just accepted her position, but she was still living out in Utah.

But we also have people who, you know, have moved maybe in the past two to three years, but especially because of the pandemic, they didn't really get out and explore.

They didn't experience all that West Michigan has to offer.

And so we wanna kind of catch them up and really help them make those connections.

- Probably good to do with those who have lived here for 20 years to get out and about, what a fun job that is.

(all laughing) Bring me back to one of your signature events that happens, what, Thanksgiving time?

- Oh yes.

- Rethink?

- Rethink West Michigan happens on Thanksgiving Eve, kind of our signature event.

And this is an event where, you know, traditionally in the past, before the pandemic, before we opened it up to be online and in person, it was for people who were visiting West Michigan, visiting family in the area for the Thanksgiving holiday.

And so it was, you know, you come into town, first stop, you know, meet friends at a bar, but also you can meet local employers, and just kind of give us the opportunity to plant the seed for relocation.

Talk to them about the opportunities that are available for them, help them get connected directly with the hiring managers at our local companies, and really see what happens from there.

So we've actually taken this, because of the pandemic, we've taken this online as well, which has now opened up the opportunity for all of those people who maybe don't travel in for Thanksgiving.

Maybe they come for Christmas instead, or they just can't make that trip.

Then they still have the opportunity to access the information, the resources.

And again, that direct line of communication with these hiring managers.

- Wow, busy times.

Rachel, we mentioned the economy, obviously part of The Right Place, how good is what you do under the umbrella of Hello West Michigan for bringing dollars into West Michigan?

- It's incredibly important.

You know, I think everyone now, even if you don't work in HR, even if you don't work in, you know, economic development or community organization, you've heard about the talent shortage.

You've heard that companies are hurting for people, that so many places are short staffed, and this is gonna continue to be an issue.

And so it's so important for what we do, because really talent attraction of work ready talent.

That's the short term solution.

Yes there's lots that we can do in terms of K through 12, and getting people into different industries that are in high need, but that's a long term play.

It is so critical that we have short term solutions like talent attraction from other areas to help our economy now, because if we don't have the work ready talent here, then businesses are less likely to come here.

New businesses are less likely to come here, and businesses that we currently have, they aren't able to expand.

So it's critically important.

- Well, again, on your website, you talk about healthcare, education, retirement neighborhoods, multicultural resources, I'm sure WGVU is in here somewhere, and more.

What do you look for as far as your needs from the community in closing?

Jessica, I'll start with you.

- Yes, you know, as an individual contributor or community member, it's really talking about how great West Michigan is.

Letting people know that there are opportunities here as far as lifestyle, but also the job search.

There's plenty of opportunities here.

We have some great, amazing local employers, and it's really gonna be word of mouth to let people know what we have available here, no matter what their interests or, you know, preferences are as far as what they like to do.

Maybe even after 5:00 PM on the weekdays and on the weekends.

- Wonderful, Rachel, give us your closing comments with the website.

- HelloWestMichigan.com.

Both candidates can take a look there for community information, but also if you're a company looking to get involved in any of these programs that we mentioned, or to become a member company and access the great resources we have for our member companies, so we can help support and enhance your talent acquisition strategy.

- So was it between Hi West Michigan, Hey West Michigan, and Hello West Michigan.

Hello West Michigan won, I'm sure, way back when.

Adventure awaits you in West Michigan.

- That's right.

- Thank you, Rachel and Jessica for what you do for Hello West Michigan.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

(calming music) - [Female Voiceover] If your organization would like to be considered for a Community Connection segment, email your information to irwinsh@gvsu.edu.

- Now it's time for Festival, a three day celebration of the arts, attracting thousands of families to downtown Grand Rapids.

This addition of our Community Connection involves talk of Festival 2022.

With the details, hi to you, Mark Azkoul and Baird Hawkins.

Board members, I only get the best.

Gentlemen, are you ready for this, June 3rd of 2022, drum roll.

(all laughing) - [Mark] We are seriously ready.

- [Baird] You bet you we're ready.

- Yes, because we took a slight, slight different angles over the last couple of years, but let's move forward and go strong into Festival 2022.

What's the history of this great venue?

- Well, it started, what year did it start?

It started.

- 69, 70.

- 69 or 70.

And it's been going ever strong ever since.

We only missed a couple of years because of COVID.

- [Baird] So this is 53rd year.

- Yeah.

- Wow, wow.

It's been dubbed, what, the longest running festival with a hiccup, a forced hiccup, with volunteer support in the nation.

It had some really cool accolades, yeah?

- Yeah, I think we've considered ourselves the largest completely all volunteer.

Although we did have a new executive director that we brought in several years ago, really to handle some of the back stuff that goes on throughout the year, but it's still primarily all volunteers that run this event every year.

- Great.

And when does it happen this year?

- It's always the first full weekend of June.

This year, it's Friday, starts on the third, fourth and fifth.

- And how do you describe Festival Grand Rapids to a visitor?

- Wow, I think it is just a celebration of the best in our community, of the arts, music, food.

We considered it when it started as a gift to the community, and really just a celebration.

And it's kind of the kickoff to summer in Grand Rapids.

- Yes, very nice.

So here we go, kicking off on June 3rd.

Let's talk, first of all, entertainment, lots of stages.

Ready for me, Mark?

- Sure, four stages.

Calder Stage, traditional, right by the Calder stabile.

We have diSuvero, which is more of acoustical, laid back, small instruments, small performers.

Then we have two larger, slightly larger stages, one on Ottawa and Fountain, one on Ottawa and Lyon, and they'll have a mixture of rock and roll, and bands and dance.

So those four stages, the highlight, I think, from a performance standpoint this year is our honorary co-chairs, which are typically a group that we bring in and partner with, is a group called The Diatribe.

And they'll be on Saturday evening from seven to 11.

And it's a combination of spoken word and poetry and a little comedy and some music.

And it's really gonna be, and it's put together by young people for young people.

So we're really looking forward to that.

- [Shelley] Right.

- And very different for us because we literally are turning the stage over to them.

They are programming it all.

We are programming nothing.

So we literally are partnered with them and they will have control of the stage for four hours.

So that's very unusual for us.

That's brand new for us, and we think it may be a thing for the future.

- Nice.

Your stages though, are filled with the young, young at heart, some from the youngest ballets, to, I know, some rock and roll groups and more, and these entertainment sections are free to our community, correct?

- Everything.

- Everything's free.

- Yeah.

- Except the food.

- Except for the food.

(Shelley laughing) - That's been one of the hallmarks of Festival, is that it's always been a non ticketed event.

And even the performers, they come down, and volunteer their time to perform.

So everybody down there, and the food booths, they're, you know, a lot of them are non-profit, not all, but many of them are non-profit, and it's a way for them to raise funds for their organization.

And there's food costs there, so of course we have to charge for that, but everything else is free.

- We can get to the food for my last, see if they have- there's one, is it the corn dog?

What's the food that always brings someone down?

- The souvlaki.

- The big one is souvlaki.

- Okay, maybe that's- - Souvlaki from the Trinity Orthodox Church.

That's a perennial favorite.

- Okay, good, they're back?

- Oh yeah.

- They're back.

- There we are, back to entertainment.

Is the Calder Stage kind of your signature stage still, or again, has that been shaken up a little bit?

- Well, we, you know, it's certainly the one that's the most visible, and probably is the prettiest one, you know, with the big stabile in the background, but we don't wanna rank one stage over the other.

And in fact, the Calder Stage doesn't really, we never pick performers based on the stage.

So there's nobody on that stage that's there because they're better or not.

It's all based on, you know, what's a good fit for the time of day, and all of the other stages together.

So, you know, it certainly seems to be the hallmark, but not always.

- They're all, all stages are equal.

Let's turn to the artwork that we may see.

Take this entertainment here.

- One of the changes this year, is we have had a problem finding a venue to do our regional art show.

So the regional art show this year will be distributed over four or five galleries throughout West Michigan.

And those galleries can be found on our website, festivalgr.org.

And they'll tell you where the shows are and like that.

So it's distributed over four or five galleries, and it won't be downtown on the weekend.

And we are so kind of sad about that, 'cause that's one of the special things, regional arts is a really incredible art exhibit.

It's a juried show and like that, but that's how we're dealing with it, because there's just changes downtown, and we just could not make it work this year.

- I think that was another remnant of COVID.

- Yes, but art will still be found.

- Certainly.

And, we do have our artisan village, which is 40 some, I can't remember the final count, 40 some different artists who create and sell artwork, pottery and painting and jewelry.

- And that'll be on right on Calder Plaza.

- Okay, sorry, yeah, as it's had some history there.

What do you have for the kids this year?

- We've got most of our kids activities, Glue In, Mad Hatter.

- Well, the one that I like, is we have a puppeteer group.

- Ooh.

- And they'll not only show you how to do puppets, but how to make them, so.

- [Baird] Puppet Lab.

- Puppet Lab, they call it.

And that's, I'm looking forward to that.

That's a fun one.

- [Shelley] Yeah, yeah.

- And that's part of our deal for Festival, is we want people to get hands on.

So we also have, you can make your shirts.

We can actually make your own shirt and we'll dry it, and you can wear it the same day and things.

So people can get hands on art activities.

- And this all takes place on a couple major streets downtown?

- [Mark] Yes.

- They can't miss it.

- Can't miss it.

It starts at Calder Plaza, runs down Ottawa all the way to Fountain.

So we pretty much take over most all of Ottawa Avenue.

- [Shelley] Yes.

- We close it down.

- Any other exhibits that you should share with us?

- Should we talk- - Oh, yeah.

- One new thing this year is Festival for the first time ever, we'll have a beer and wine tent.

- Ooh, that's an exhibit.

(Shelley laughing) - Well, for some.

- For some.

(all laughing) - And that will be on, right out from Calder Plaza on Ottawa Avenue.

So that's something new that was based on our strategic plan work that we did in the community, and people asked for it.

So we're trying it this year.

So that's gonna be something very new.

- Right, there is a poster, that's an annual event.

And give me credit to who deserves this.

- Sure, she is the third person of her family to have been selected to do a poster for Festival.

Her brother did one several years ago, and her mother also did one several years ago.

And so that's somewhat unique.

The poster- her particular style of art, she does works with beads, glass beads.

And so the poster was done with tiny, tiny individual glass beads.

It's beautiful to look at.

And the poster will be on display and then we can, we also have had it printed.

And so the poster will be available for sale, both signed and unsigned, and framed as well.

- Can I buy a hat?

- You can have a hat.

- Oh, well.

- You can have it.

- The job comes with its- - Happy to have you have- - That is an official official committee member hat.

So now you are- - My goodness.

- A festival committee member.

- Well, sign me up for 2023.

Do you need your volunteers?

We're getting down to, you know, within a week or so.

Do you still need people to come to the plate?

- Absolutely, absolutely.

We can always use help in all of the children's activities, just to keep an eye on kids and shepherd them through.

We kind of have some fun with that.

We don't allow parents in a lot of those spots.

So we do need to have people there supervising that, and for setup, there's always a great need for people just to help us with the setup and tear down of the event.

- [Shelley] Yeah.

- And it's easy because you can just go right to the website and there's a big red button says, volunteer, sign up and click on that, take you through the whole process.

Or you can just show up.

- You can just show up.

And you get a t-shirt.

You get a volunteer t-shirt, so that's good.

- T-shirt, yes.

Back to food again.

Will I buy tickets?

Will it be seamless to, to get my "souv.. - All the food booths sell tickets, yeah.

All the food booths sell the tickets themselves, or the trucks, whichever they are, they sell their tickets, you pay them, and go get your food, and stuff like that.

And everyone's really geared up for this this year because it's been two years.

- Yeah.

- And so everyone is really geared up this year.

- Yeah, it's very exciting.

Will there be kind of a formal kickoff at noon on Friday?

- There's actually two kickoffs.

At noon, when everybody hears the sirens, first Friday of the month, there's a short kickoff.

And I suppose the official opening ceremonies is gonna be Friday night at Calder Stage at seven o'clock.

So that's the official, we'll keep it fairly short at noon.

We'll read a proclamation that the city has stamped for us.

They do that every year.

And one or two quick dignitaries, and then we'll get on with it.

But the official ceremony will be Friday night.

- Yes.

So how are you making this work, yes, with volunteers, but moving forward, you continue to need financial support and more as we begin this new festival for the next 50 years.

- Sure.

- Yeah.

We continue to do that.

Development is a full time all year process to keep this to be a free non ticketed event, open to the entire community to come down, it takes a lot of support to do that.

So it's not just the volunteers.

You have to have a lot of financial support to do this also.

- And we've been very fortunate.

Most all of the large organizations and corporations in the area have always helped us a great deal.

One of the things that we're also doing, is we're also looking at partnering with organizations as well.

There are certain things that we know that we can do where we can partner and use their treasures as well, and time.

So that's one of the things that we'll see more and more of as we go forward.

- You bet.

And again, all of the lineups are on your website.

- Yes, the lineups are on the website, and I just put them up yesterday.

So the lineups are there.

They might change.

- [Shelley] Sure, yup.

- But yes, everything is there.

- So where do you see festival going from now on, God forbid, you know, we move in the right direction.

- Sure, sure, sure.

- I think we're gonna be expanding our footprint a little bit past just the festival event.

We're gonna be doing a fall fundraiser concert this fall, which is going to be a ticketed event.

And that also will include a masterclass with a Grammy award-winning songwriter the next day.

And that may, we are planning this to be an annual, every year.

And then our spring event, which has been our luncheon, which may now end up being a dinner.

So just spreading our footprint out a little bit more so that we're not just one week out of the summer.

- Wonderful.

All right, details one more time about that first weekend in June, please, while I put my hat on.

(all laughing) - June third, fourth, and fifth, starting off, kicking off at noon on the third, and going until six o'clock on Sunday night, every day.

- Wonderful.

- Be there.

- With bells on.

The morning show's going to have a nice remote.

There we go.

One more time, your event's website?

- Oh, festivalgr.org.

- Great.

No rain.

- No rain.

Guaranteed.

- No rain.

- Thank you, gentlemen.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Thank you for watching this edition of Community Connection.

(calming music) - [Female Voiceover] If your organization would like to be considered for a Community Connection segment, email your information to irwinsh@gvsu.edu.