Emerge is proud to officially serve as a clearinghouse partner for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Employer Provided Innovation Challenges (EPIC) initiative, helping bring real-world learning opportunities to students across Michigan and beyond.

In one of our first major activations, we took a team of exceptional students from Oakland Schools Technical Campus – Southwest (Wixom) to Washington, D.C., where they presented their EPIC solution alongside peers from across the country at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce headquarters.

The EPIC program is a national initiative designed to connect learners with real-world employer challenges that develop critical 21st-century skills like communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. As a clearinghouse, Emerge sources, supports, and amplifies EPIC challenges in partnership with local schools, employers, and community organizations, ensuring that students gain hands-on experience while solving problems that matter.

The students from Oakland Schools Technical Campus worked in teams over several weeks to develop innovative solutions to a real challenge presented by the Oakland Schools Education Foundation (OSEF)—tasked with finding creative ways to market technical education and increase employer engagement at Oakland County’s technical campuses. Their presentation in D.C. earned praise for its professionalism, creativity, and passion—demonstrating the kind of talent that emerges when students are trusted with meaningful, purpose-driven work.

“We believe that students learn best when they’re solving real problems for real people,” said Joe Bamberger, Managing Partner at Emerge. “Our partnership with the U.S. Chamber Foundation allows us to bring those kinds of experiences to life at scale. Watching students from OSTC confidently present in front of national audiences was proof that this model works.”

This is just the beginning. Emerge plans to expand its EPIC offerings to more schools across the state and connect even more employers with the next generation of talent.

If you’re a school looking to bring EPIC to your classroom or an employer with a challenge ready to inspire, let’s talk. Together, we can build the future of workforce development—one challenge at a time.