Marano Fellows Class of 2011

Name: Randy Osmun
Organization:

The SOURCE

Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Primary Industry Sector:

EManufacturing and Health Care

Type of Organization: Nonprofit- business-government collaborative

“The SOURE is a successful collaboration between government, business and the nonprofit sectors – all working together to address the barriers and needs within our community. The opportunity to share, find and create other collaborations of this nature is very exciting.”

Organizational Mission: The SOURCE is a not-for-profit employee support organization designed to help employees keep their jobs, receive training, and help employees move into better positions within or across companies. Since 2003, we have utilized the best resources of the government, area non-profits, and private employers.

Interest in Sector Work: The SOURCE is a nonprofit, serving the needs of those employed by our member companies. Sectors include: 13 manufacturing, 5 health care, 1 employment, 1 education and 1 cleaning companies. Roughly 10% of the employees of these companies are receiving welfare services. We partner with the State of Michigan’s Department of Human Services (DHS) Family Independence Agency (FIA). The SOURCE provides private and public (FIA) casework services to all employees. Our primary goal is barrier resolution in relationship to employment retention and advancement across all 5 sectors. We are looking to formalize an advancement process where underemployed workers in low wage positions can move to other organizations within our membership network – taking advantage of greater wages and opportunities. Additionally, we are providing trainings to support and develop disadvantaged, low income, and marginalized workers.