TAPPING WORKERS FOR TECH

Grand Rapids looks to attract talent and supportive ecosystem to transform into tech hub

GRAND RAPIDS — West Michigan leaders and startup founders know that turning the region into the Midwest’s leading tech cluster might start with a marketing plan, but it can’t end there.

In September, e Right Place, West Michigan’s largest economic development agency, announced a 10-year plan to make greater Grand Rapids the Midwest’s leading tech cluster by increasing the skilled talent pool, attracting new residents and bolstering the business ecosystem.

e goal is to attract 2,000 workers from outside the region, reskill 6,000 people there and educate 12,000 to meet the demand for talent.

A task force — comprised of industry and academic leaders and convened by e Right Place — wants the tech sector to make up 10 percent of the region’s total labor force by 2032, which also means adding 20,000 tech jobs to the existing sector that currently employs about 33,500 people.

It starts with promotion

Hello West Michigan, a Grand Rapids-based talent attraction and support organization, launched an ad campaign last year, inviting displaced tech workers from the East and West coasts to consider West Michigan for their next home and career destination.

Executive Director Rachel Gray said the campaign targeted “potential boomerangs — people who went to Michigan colleges and who are in IT elds or tech elds” — and employees of speci c companies. Hello West Michigan has directed LinkedIn ads at laid-o workers from companies such as Peloton, Twitter, Amazon and Meta, the latter of which laid o 11,000 workers last fall and announced another 10,000 cuts in March.

e campaign promoted the organization’s Re ink West Michigan events, annual mixers for former residents home for anksgiving to network and learn about current career opportunities.

Gray said it’s hard to say how much of the event attendance was driven by the ad campaign. But she envisions the campaign expanding to other social platforms as part of the organization’s outbound marketing strategy.

But she is aware of the challenges. When marketing the region’s cultural amenities and low cost of living, Hello West Michigan bumps up against an issue that is especially acute amid West Michigan’s population boom: the housing shortage.

“ ose are deep and complex issues that won’t get solved overnight,” she said, adding that the issue is being addressed. (More on who’s working to solve the issue on Page 9.)