The Career Development Conference (CDC) is Youth Solutions’ annual event where youth have the opportunity to showcase the skills they have learned throughout the year in the Jobs for Michigan’s Graduates (JMG) program. This event highlights workplace skills and knowledge, such as creative problem solving, interview skills, and career preparation. Career-based competitions provide students real-world practice for future employment opportunities while volunteer judges evaluate and offer feedback to our future leaders. Moreover, inspirational speeches and student recognition allow our young people to envision and aspire towards their future careers.
2023 Keynote Speaker: Lasha Murray
The Unapologetic Career Coach
Lasha lives in San Antonio, TX, married almost 15 years and a proud Mom of three teenagers. She spent 22 years in a Corporate career. She recently retired from her Corporate Career to pursue her passionate purpose as a servant leader helping others achieve career success. She is known as the Unapologetic Career Coach because she, unapologetically helps Women re-ignite their inner Boss!! Her organization strives to build confidence and a safe space to empower women to elevate their career(s) and achieve the success they deserve. In addition to career coaching, Lasha also assists organizations with reshaping their culture by training leaders on how to motivate their teams through initial engagement, reengagements and connectivity to the organization's strategy and mission.
Youth of the Year
Downriver Community Conference
Southeast Michigan Community Alliance - SEMCA Michigan Works!
2023 Exemplary Youth of the Year
2023 Notable Alumni of the Year Winners
Notable Alumni of the Year
Flint Southwestern Classical Academy
GST Michigan Works!
Notable Alumni of the Year
Windover High School
The Institute for Excellence in Education
2023 Competitive Event Winners
2023 First Place Chapter Marketing Winners
Congratulations to our 2023 Chapter Marketing winners! Their passion for JMG truly showed through their talent and creativity. Watch the 1st place video, “Windover Warriors” submitted by our youth from Windover High School!
Thank You to our 2023 Volunteers!
About our Volunteers: Volunteers made a difference by serving as guest judges for one of our employability skills competitions. They were asked to evaluate our young people with a structured evaluation sheet, provide feedback to the students, and select event winners.
Event Descriptions:
Creative Problem Solving: Think Shark Tank! Creative Problem Solving provided youth the opportunity to analyze the decision-making process and work as a team to develop a strategy for a real world challenge that many youth in Michigan may experience today.
Interview Skills: Youth competed in interviews for their desired career and were judged on response content, poise, personal presentation, and networking abilities. Each youth presented a cover letter and resume for his or her dream job. Sample questions were provided to judges.
Career Preparation: This event aims to inspire JMG youth to be proactive in a selected career field and gain confidence in speaking about why the career is the right fit for them. Youth created a 10-item slide deck to present to the judges.
Thank you for your ongoing support of Youth Solutions and Jobs for Michigan’s Graduates programming and for working with us to inspire and connect youth to achieve a future beyond imagination.
Thank You to Our Event Sponsors
