The project was designed to help the City of River Rouge move from an initial workforce development concept toward a practical, phased strategy for creating a Career & Workforce Innovation Center. Rather than prescribing a single facility or fixed set of programs, the roadmap provides an evidence-based framework that River Rouge and its partners can use to guide career pathway development, employer engagement, educational partnerships, facility planning, funding, governance, and long-term implementation.
WIN began by examining River Rouge-specific demographic, socioeconomic, educational, and workforce conditions and then connected those findings to the broader Detroit Metro Prosperity Region. This approach recognizes that while the Center should remain locally anchored in River Rouge, residents pursue education and employment throughout Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties. The regional analysis therefore provides a stronger foundation for identifying sustainable career pathways, employer partnerships, and long-term workforce opportunities.
The analysis identified significant opportunities to expand labor force participation, educational attainment, access to industry-recognized credentials, and connections to family-sustaining employment. It also identified continued regional demand across healthcare, advanced manufacturing, clean energy and electrification, skilled trades and construction, transportation and logistics, and engineering and applied technologies. Based on these findings, the roadmap recommends an industry-based Career Academy model organized around six priority areas:
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Clean Energy & Electrification
- Skilled Trades
- Healthcare
- Transportation & Logistics Engineering
- Applied Technologies
The proposed Center is envisioned as more than a traditional Career and Technical Education facility. The roadmap positions it as an employer-led regional talent ecosystem connecting K–12 education, community colleges, universities, Michigan Works! agencies, employers, labor organizations, economic development partners, and community organizations. Employers would play an active role in curriculum development, career awareness, mentoring, work-based learning, apprenticeships, equipment planning, and continuous program improvement.
The roadmap also introduces the WIN E3 K–12 Career Immersion Framework: Explore, Engage, Excel, a progressive career exploration model beginning in fourth grade and continuing through tenth grade. The model is designed to complement Career and Technical Education, dual enrollment, Early College, apprenticeship, and other work-based learning pathways by helping students understand career options before selecting a formal pathway.
A separate implementation toolkit accompanies the report and provides practical resources to support the next phase of planning. The appendices include detailed labor market analysis, priority occupations, Michigan CTE guidance, WIN Industry Career Profiles, the E3 Career Immersion Framework, durable skills resources, educational technology and laboratory guidance, curriculum resources, industry-recognized credentials, potential funding opportunities, and facility-planning considerations.
The final roadmap recommends a phased approach to implementation, beginning with organizational and partnership development, followed by program and curriculum planning, educational program launch, and continuous evaluation and expansion. The goal is to allow River Rouge to begin with realistic, achievable steps while building the partnerships, resources, and infrastructure necessary for long-term growth. Ultimately, the River Rouge Career & Workforce Innovation Center is envisioned as a community-centered, regionally connected workforce resource that expands access to high-quality career education while strengthening the talent pipelines needed by Southeast Michigan employers.
View the River Rouge Career & Workforce Innovation Center Final Report
View the River Rouge Appendices Implementation Toolkit
This activity is in support of the Michigan Vehicle Technology Transition Impact Project (MiVTTP), a partnership between the Economic Growth Institute and Michigan Clean Cities, and is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) under the Award Number DE-EE0010618.
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