Michael Evans

Michael Evans participated in the Career Readiness Talent Pipeline Management® (TPM) Academy of Michigan in 2022. He is Executive Director of the Kalamazoo Literacy Council (KLC) and has been with the organization since August 2010. He is charged with bringing area adult literacy programs together to better coordinate services for adults wanting to learn how to read or improve their literacy skills. He works daily to raise awareness of adult literacy issues in the community and to gather more support to this cause.

Evans is the facilitator of the Adult Literacy Collaborative of Kalamazoo County, which serves as a forum to determine adult literacy priorities, identify and expand resources, and align services and programs in the county. He serves as the Co-Director of the Adult Literacy Research and Training Symposium, which is hosted annually in collaboration with Western Michigan University (WMU). He serves on the Board of Directors of the Michigan Association of Community and Adult Education (MACAE), Family & Children Services, the Institutional Review Board of the WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, the WMU Lewis Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations Advisory Board, Co-Chair of the Advisory Board for the WMU Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and the WMU Literacy Studies/TESOL Advisory Board. He served as Vice-Chair of the Region 8 Regional Prosperity Initiative for the State of Michigan. Before coming to the KLC, Evans worked for 15 years in the nonprofit sector in Battle Creek with several organizations including Community Inclusive Recreation, Summit Pointe, New Level Sports among others. He was Executive Director of Heritage Battle Creek and the Sojourner Truth Institute of Battle Creek and served on many statewide boards including the Michigan Humanities Council, the Michigan Freedom Trail Commission, and the Michigan Association of Community Arts Agencies. Prior to entering the nonprofit sector, he was a staff writer for the Kalamazoo Gazette. He earned his bachelor’s degree at WMU where he majored in English and Communications.

Specialty Areas: Analyzing Employer Collaborative Surveys, Partnerships with Workforce Agencies, Partnership with Alternative Talent Sources, Fundraising/Financing an Employer Collaborative, Strategic/Sustainability Planning, Career and Technical Education Pathways, Other Opportunity Talent Populations, Childcare