Grand Traverse County commissioners voted Wednesday to hire Traverse Connect for economic development services, following in the footsteps of other entities - including the City of Traverse City and Traverse City Downtown Development Authority - that have contracted with Traverse Connect for similar support.

Under the agreement, the county will pay $50,000 for a one-year contract extending from March 1 of this year to February 28, 2023. Traverse Connect will focus on development in two specific areas for Grand Traverse County: the manufacturing industry and the skilled trades industry. In manufacturing, Traverse Connect will focus on initiatives expanding "existing manufacturing and growing new firms in this county," said Traverse Connect President and CEO Warren Call.

In the skilled trades, the focus will be on recruiting and retaining talent. "We need to grow that talent pipeline significantly," Call said, noting there is an increasing local need for skilled workers in the trades. Part of that effort will include creating a "shop club" program for local middle-school students, modeled on successful local STEM programs, that will engage students early on with the trades and bring together groups like The Builders Exchange, The Home Builders Association, and contractors to work with and mentor students. Commissioner Betsy Coffia asked Call to make sure women mentors were included in the program so that girls would also be encouraged to pursue careers in the trades.

The Traverse Connect contract will also include generalized economic development support for Grand Traverse County, including making chamber resources and professional development opportunities available to the county, potentially offering a seat on the Traverse Connect board of directors to a county representative, and providing written quarterly and annual reports to county leaders. During Wednesday's presentation, Call shared that Traverse Connect is working toward several strategic goals by 2030, including growing the local GDP per employee from $64,000 to $84,000. He also noted that the area's wage average is only 82 percent of the state's wage average, due in part of having a high number of seasonal and service industry jobs. Call said that working to expand other types of jobs locally, like manufacturing and skilled trades, could help bring that wage average up. "Our goal by 2030 is to move that number up so that it's 90 percent or above the state average," Call said.