The Hastings Mutual Insurance Company Charitable Foundation recognizes the contributions of nonprofit organizations in the communities we serve. Each month, we’ll honor one of those organizations as our Nonprofit of the Month.

Hastings Mutual’s home office is in Hastings, Michigan, the seat of Barry County. A lot of our neighboring businesses are in a different line of work than insurance; in Barry County, 33 percent of all jobs are in manufacturing, about twice the Michigan average. Some Barry County high school students don’t enroll in a community college or four-year university and are candidates for the multitude of manufacturing jobs in Hastings and the region. But they need the right training — and that’s where Kellogg Advanced Manufacturing Assembly (KAMA) education steps in.

KAMA is a program developed by Kellogg Community College. Before they’re even graduates, KAMA participants attend classes two hours a week for 20 weeks, specifically devoted to the field of manufacturing and related skills, such as time management and teamwork. The first group of attendees took part in 2017; the majority of them were hired right after the program ended and still have jobs.

In the next few years, the KAMA training may team with other schools and jobs programs, as well as more Barry County-area manufacturers to help provide education and training to people entering the working world.

Kellogg Advanced Manufacturing Assembly is supported by Hastings Mutual and the Barry Community Foundation in Hastings, MI.

You can find more on the Kellogg Advanced Manufacturing Assembly class at the link.