Southeast Michigan Community Alliance, Inc.

Southeast Michigan Community Alliance, Inc., doing business as Semca, is a nonprofit workforce and economic development organization based in Taylor, Michigan that functions as a federal grant recipient (18% as prime recipient, 82% as sub-recipient) in workforce training, pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship program development, and regional economic mobility initiatives. Semca operates as a designated Michigan Works agency for Monroe and Wayne Counties and draws most of its federal activity from employment and training grants flowing through the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration rather than from competitive federal contracting.

Semca's federal grant footprint spans three primary capability areas anchored in regional workforce development. As a prime recipient, Semca holds a $3.66 million Project Grant under the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education program (CFDA 84.116) awarded by the Office of Postsecondary Education, effective January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2029, for the Michigan Workforce Pell Quality and Innovation Initiative. The award funds institutional reforms, short-term credential programs, and partnerships designed to connect job seekers with employment and training opportunities aligned with postsecondary education. Semca also received a $23.3 million Project Grant from the Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration's Economic Adjustment Assistance program awarded September 12, 2022 to support the Global Epicenter of Mobility coalition in transforming the Detroit region's legacy automotive industry into an advanced mobility cluster. The award funds a Supply Chain Transformation Center to assist manufacturers transition to broader mobility product needs and a Mobility Accelerator Innovation Network to identify and back startups. As a third prime grant recipient, Semca holds a Project Grant from the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration awarded July 1, 2022 and extending through June 30, 2026 to develop pre-apprenticeship training curricula, convene a Health Careers Alliance collaborative among Michigan healthcare systems, and build apprenticeship programs in healthcare and electrified vehicle sectors. Additionally, Semca received an $850,000 Project Grant from the Employment and Training Administration for the Wayne-Westland "Pathways to the Workforce" initiative, awarded March 1, 2023 through August 31, 2025, to deliver work-readiness curriculum and work-based learning experiences to at-risk secondary students ages fourteen and older in partnership with Wayne-Westland Community School District and local municipalities.

As a sub-recipient, Semca's activity concentrates almost entirely under the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity as the prime grantee. Sub-awards flow across Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) adult, dislocated worker, and youth programs; Employment Service and Unemployment Insurance programs; Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) and pre-apprenticeship initiatives; and state digital equity and broadband access programs. Semca also serves as a sub-recipient on a May 2024 grant from the University of Toledo to develop workforce training programs and curriculum for the hydrogen economy. Award frequency has accelerated in recent years—three awards in 2022, two in 2023, fifteen in 2024, and twenty-two in 2025, with seven awards flowing through April 2026. The Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration accounts for 96% of awards by count (46 of 52 named awards), with the Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration, and Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy representing smaller secondary customer relationships.