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By Bridie Bereza | MiBiz
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Hope Network CEO Phil Weaver has helped the organization build a statewide network of collaborators to deliver rehabilitation and workforce development services. COURTESY PHOTO

GRAND RAPIDS — When your specialties include caring for people with mental illness, rehabilitating patients with spinal cord injuries, and training marginalized people for the workforce, it almost goes without saying: You can’t do it alone.

Phil Weaver, president and CEO of Hope Network, knows this firsthand. The services mentioned above are only a few of what his Grand Rapids-based organization offers in 75 of Michigan’s 83 counties.

When Weaver quotes the old saying that “it takes a village to raise a child,” it sounds knowing rather than cliche.

“You have to have partnerships to support a person with a disadvantage, to make them the best that they can be,” he said.

Hope Network is a nonprofit Christian organization that empowers people with disabilities or disadvantages to achieve independence. Collaboration with a host of government, nonprofit, and business organizations has been crucial to helping Hope maintain and expand services to areas with a need.

Currently, the network employs 2,500 people and serves more than 20,000 clients.

“People are looking for people to reach a hand out to and say, ‘Let’s do this together,’” said Weaver, who has sought allies for Hope’s mission in a variety of places.

Partnerships with schools have proven effective:

• Students in occupational, physical, and speech therapy programs at Michigan State University and Grand Valley State University work with clients in relevant Hope programs;
• Davenport University students assist entrepreneurs with developmental disabilities to start their businesses;
• Medical students at MSU’s College of Human Medicine have the opportunity to perform rotations with Hope Network.

These relationships create win-win scenarios, Weaver said, because they bring students’ talent and enthusiasm to clients while also better preparing students to work with people with disabilities in the future. In addition, students receive tutelage they might not find many other places. For example, Hope Network’s main neuropsychologist is one of only two in the state certified in his specialty, said Weaver.

“These students get an experience that not every student will get. They’re serving under the best,” he said.

Businesses are indispensable in Hope’s services, particularly in workforce development.

Fifth Third Bank and Spectrum Health participate in a program that allows special needs high school seniors in the Kent Intermediate School District to participate in internships at the organizations. This often leads to competitive employment upon graduation at Fifth Third, Spectrum or in a related position elsewhere.

Hope assists with job training and placement for people with disabilities and helps ex-offenders re-enter the workforce after being released from prison. Many participants learn skills at Hope’s industrial training facility. Others work offsite, honing landscaping and janitorial skills at locations such as the Gerald R. Ford International Airport and the Federal Building.

Weaver said that about 15 area businesses, including Cascade Engineering, Comprenew and Butterball Farms, partner with Hope to hire individuals who have completed training through these programs.

“The partnerships with businesses are really important. You need businesses to take a slight risk on someone with a troubled past to make this work,” he said. “We can do as much job training as we want, but if program participants don’t have an organization to go to after, whatever work we do won’t matter.”

Weaver said that when partner businesses hire an individual who has come through Hope’s workforce development channels, they know Hope has already done its due diligence in getting people on their feet.

“Overall, it has been exceptionally successful,” Weaver said of the partnerships with area businesses. “Are there struggles? Yes, because you’re dealing with people. Our role is to come in and help resolve people problems, and that’s something we do really well.”

Many of the partnerships have come about organically, because organizations such as Michigan Rehabilitation Services and Network 180, Kent County’s mental health agency, have similar goals to Hope Network. Partners like Huntington Bank, which financially supports Hope Network and provides financial education to its clients, are simply doing those things they do best where it is needed most, said Weaver.

An informal conversation between Weaver and Dean Marsha D. Rappley led to the serendipitous match between MSU’s College of Human Medicine and Hope Network.

Finding partners for workforce development is not always easy, however.

“Employers are a bit harder. It takes time to build those relationships,” said Weaver, acknowledging that more businesses have rejected the opportunity to partner than have accepted, simply because some companies don’t want to work with ex-offenders.

Weaver hopes stories like Jahaun McKinley’s will change that attitude. McKinley, a Kentwood man who served 19 years in prison, completed Hope’s workforce development program and now works full-time as a supervisor at Cascade Engineering. He’s also taking business classes at Grand Rapids Community College.

“Companies that don’t take a chance are missing out on some very good employees,” he said.

Still, he’s hopeful more companies will come around to embrace ex-offenders who have gone through Hope Network’s training. That many already do is a testament to the region, he said.

“West Michigan is unbelievable. It’s a big, small community. Big in that it’s a large area with a lot of people, and small because people seem to want to reach out and help,” said Weaver.

As Hope has expanded its programs, he has seen this spirit of goodwill and collaboration across the state.

“When you work together,” he said, “the benefits are across the board.”

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TAGS:

• grand rapids
• hope network
• marsha d. rappley
• phil weaver