Bridging Opportunity and Impact: How Skilltrade, Detroit at Work, and Focus: HOPE are Redefining Healthcare Training in Detroit

Healthcare systems in Detroit and across the country are feeling the pressure to hire skilled professionals who can hit the ground running. But what happens when the people who want to fill those roles face barriers like a lack of access, support, or flexible training options?

Skilltrade, Detroit at Work, and Focus: HOPE have formed a powerful three-way partnership to answer that question with action. Together, they've launched a 20-week Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) Program built specifically to serve Detroit residents, meet the needs of local healthcare employers, and create a model that could scale across Michigan and beyond.

A New Kind of Workforce Training Model

Detroit at Work—the city’s workforce development agency—has partnered with Skilltrade as the curriculum developer and training provider, and Focus: HOPE as the student support lead, to deliver a fully integrated, healthcare training experience. This collaboration, funded by Detroit at Work, combines Skilltrade’s job-ready curriculum with Focus: HOPE’s student support services to help Detroit residents gain high-demand skills and connect directly with local employers.

The result? A 20-week hybrid CCMA training cohort that blends immersive online learning with bi-weekly, in-person labs and externships, launching 18 students into a new career path with confidence and credentials. The in-person portion of this program began in April of 2025 and is being held at Renaissance Plastic Surgery in Troy, MI, where students use real exam rooms during off-hours.

Flexible Training, Proven Results

Skilltrade’s CCMA program is designed for flexibility, allowing students to complete most of their coursework online while gaining real-world experience through live lab sessions and clinical externships. Graduates gain experience in patient care and clinical procedures and leave eligible for NHA national certification, a credential

Empowering Student Success

While Skilltrade delivers the training and Detroit at Work leads the workforce strategy, Focus: HOPE plays a critical role in student success, offering wraparound support every step of the way. Their team handles marketing, pre-screening, and, most importantly, provides each student with a dedicated case manager to help eliminate barriers by providing transportation, utility assistance, childcare, and emotional support.

Training That Leads to Jobs

Unlike traditional training models, this program involved employers from the start to help shape successful student outcomes. Key hiring partners like EPIC Health and Advantage Health secured clinical sites for hands-on externships and plan to hire graduates after program completion.

Scaling a Successful Model

The success of this first cohort has already sparked plans for expansion, with plans to launch a second cohort already in the works. Beyond Detroit, Skilltrade is working with Michigan Works! Southeast, to deliver similar CCMA training with an optional 200-hour on-the-job training (OJT) opportunity to meet the needs of local employers.

Skilltrade, Detroit at Work, and Focus: HOPE are proving that when training providers, community organizations, and employers work together, transformational outcomes are not only possible—they’re repeatable. Skilltrade believes this model could be applied not only throughout Michigan but nationally.

Tiffany Graydon, Director of Workforce Development & Education at Focus: HOPE said, “We are proud to be a part of this collaboration; it represents our shared commitment to provide hands-on technical skills, essential soft skills, supportive services and career development support, while creating equitable pathways to opportunity and empowering Detroit residents to thrive in the healthcare field.”

"This collaboration demonstrates the effectiveness and scalability of our training model in addressing workforce needs locally and potentially nationally, while also highlighting our commitment to community empowerment,” said Jason Aubrey, Founder and CEO at Skilltrade.

Bring This Model to Your Community

Want to bring a program like this to your region or facility? Visit Skilltrade.com or contact Sandy Mead, Vice President, Workforce Development at smead@skilltrade.com to explore partnership opportunities.