Jayme Powell is an innovative change agent, civic leader, and equity champion who has spent her career working across the public, private, and social sectors to improve educational and workforce systems that yield economic opportunity for low-income families. Powell’s mission is to serve as the connective tissue between business, higher education, government, and philanthropy to strategically tackle vexing talent, social, and economic issues facing southeast Michigan.
In November of 2023, Powell accepted the role as Executive Director of the Detroit Regional Workforce Partnership, managed by the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan, where she is responsible for convening and collaborating with critical stakeholders to identify and implement scalable solutions to regional workforce challenges. By leveraging the power of the business community, Powell aims to increase labor force participation, with a focus on equity to increase the available talent pool. Fostering alignment between business and educational leaders will enable Powell and the workforce partnership to implement solutions that remove barriers to employment, improve educational outcomes for regional learners, and increase access to family-sustaining wage careers.
Before joining the Community Foundation to lead the workforce partnership, Powell was the Senior Director of Education and employment at the Rocket Community Fund where she spent more than 7 years developing and executing a comprehensive data-driven investment strategy focused on career education, workforce development, and digital inclusion that builds a sustainable pipeline of opportunities for Detroit talent. A key part of her role was supporting Rocket Companies’ Talent Acquisition team to innovatively diversify local talent leads to high volume open requisitions.
Powell’s expertise lies in supporting and scaling successful evidence-based interventions, building strategic partnerships, and creating hyper-focused coalitions of key industry and sector stakeholders to break barriers and resolve talent crises. Examples of her progressive leadership include the development of the Motor City Contractor Fund, an initiative to support Detroit-based contractors with a suite of services to grow their capacity and succeed in the increasingly competitive local marketplace; Connect313, a citywide coordinated strategy to close the digital divide; and the Detroit Area Talent Fund, a newly piloted emergency microgrant fund designed to support regional higher education students through degree completion and/or credential attainment. Jayme is a Michigan State University alumna and holds a Master of Social Work with a concentration in Organizational and Community Leadership. She currently resides in Detroit with her wife, Andrea, and their rescue Australian Cattle Dog mix, Frankie.