The Michigan Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing (M-CAM) initiative was designed to help unemployed adults (including TAA-certified workers) gain the skills required to fill available jobs in Michigan’s advanced manufacturing sector. The M-CAM initiative was developed by a consortium of eight community colleges in Michigan and was funded in October 2014 by the U.S. Department of Labor through a Round 3 Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant. The M-CAM leadership team selected Social Policy Research Associates as the third-party evaluator for the initiative in March 2014. SPR’s evaluation, which concluded in September 2017, included a comprehensive implementation study, an outcomes study, and a rigorous quasi-experimental impact evaluation. These evaluation activities resulted in multiple deliverables, including a comprehensive Final Evaluation Report and briefing papers, all of which can be accessed by clicking on the links on this page.
SPR’s Final Evaluation Report describes key features of the initiative, factors influencing implementation, participant outcomes, program impacts, and systems outcomes.
Download the Final Evaluation Report Executive Summary
Download the full Final Evaluation Report
M-CAM Issue Briefs
Boosting the Skills of Older Workers for New Manufacturing Careers: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience
This brief explores the experiences of older workers who enrolled in advanced manufacturing training programs, drawing on data from over 1200 older students enrolled at eight community colleges in Michigan over a three-year post-recession period (2014–2017).
Download the Boosting the Skills of Older Workers for New Manufacturing Careers: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience Brief
Career Coaching and Student Success: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience
This brief explores the role career coaches played in the M-CAM inititative, including the types of services they provided, and the challenges encountered and successes realized by the colleges as they implemented the career coaching model.
Download the Career Coaching and Student Success: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience Brief
Meeting Student Needs through Flexible Delivery Systems: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience
This brief highlights the approaches of three M-CAM colleges that offered flexible training delivery options, including open entry program enrollment, more frequent course offerings that span evenings and weekends, and hybrid delivery systems that combined online and in-person instruction.
Download the Meeting Student Needs through Flexible Delivery Systems: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience Brief
Helping Students Earn College Credit for Prior Learning: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience
This brief explores the M-CAM experience with the implementation of Prior Learning Assessments (PLA), focusing on the promising practices and challenges that emerged.
Download the Helping Students Earn College Credit for Prior Learning: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience Brief
Moving Justice-Involved Individuals into Employment: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience
This brief highlights some of the obstacles that students with criminal records faced and how the colleges sought to address these challenges.
Download the Moving Justice-Involved Individuals into Employment: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience Brief
Helping Veterans Transition to Civilian Manufacturing Careers: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience
This brief explores both institutional and M-CAM-specific efforts to serve veterans across the eight consortium colleges.
Download the Helping Veterans Transition to Civilian Manufacturing Careers: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience Brief
Women in Manufacturing: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience
This brief describes women’s participation and experiences in manufacturing training programs.
Download the Women in Manufacturing: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience Brief
Role of Employers in Strengthening Manufacturing Pathways: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience
This brief highlights the employer-level outcomes of the M-CAM initiative as well as some of the employer engagement strategies that helped to support those outcomes.
Download the Role of Employers in Strengthening Manufacturing Pathways: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience Brief
Closing the Skills Gap: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience
This brief highlights factors that contributed to the shortage of qualified manufacturing workers in Michigan as well as strategies that M-CAM colleges and employers used to address the shortage.
Download the Closing the Skills Gap: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience Brief
Engaging English Learners in Manufacturing Training Programs: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience
This brief highlights factors that contributed to the shortage of qualified manufacturing workers in Michigan as well as strategies that M-CAM colleges and employers used to address the shortage.
Download the Engaging English Learners in Manufacturing Training Programs: Michigan’s M-CAM Experience Brief