Sometimes when you need a little help when you decide to change your career path. Dante Jacob made that decision and with the help of Oakland80 he will become a firefighter before the end of this year. 

Jacob graduated from Birmingham Seaholm High School in 2018 and decided to translate his love of photography into a graphic design career. He attended Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla., a hands-on school that offers associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees focused on entertainment, media, video game design and emerging technologies. 

Before the end of his freshman year, Jacob received a job offer in Michigan as graphic designer for Quonkur Media, a cannabis-focused marketing company. “Why put myself in debt to put myself through school when I can accept a position I was going to get a degree in anyway?” said Jacob. “It was a great offer. Of course I took it.” The hours, the stress and changes in the industry led Jacob to his first life changing decision. “I was 20 years old and ahead of the game from where my peers are that I graduated with, but things started to slow down and AI began to take over the design market,” he said. 

He shifted and took a sales position with Moosejaw outdoor retailer, cutting his income in half. “That’s where I learned I really liked helping people and it brought me a certain fulfillment,” said Jacob. At the 2022 Arts, Beats and Eats festival in Royal Oak, Jacob saw a display set up by the Royal Oak Fire Department and talked with one of the firefighters. “The hours, the benefits and a chance to give back in another field was appealing to me,” he said. “It didn’t happen right away, but what we talked about stuck with me for the next three years.” He returned to retail work until he decided to make his second life changing decision and apply to the Oakland Community College Fire Academy. "I pulled out the card the firefighter gave me three years prior, gave him a call and he suggested that if I was serious, the fire academy was my path to becoming a firefighter,” said Jacob. 

As he mulled over his decision and how to afford enrollment in the academy, he found out about Oakland80. “I almost backed out when I found out how much it cost, but I found out about Oakland80 and Michigan Reconnect through an online forum with other firefighters,” Jacob said. “That changed everything.” Oakland80 is an Oakland County initiative with a goal to have 80% of working age adults in the county earn a post-high school qualification, whether a college degree or some other credential, by the year 2030. Michigan Reconnect is a scholarship program designed for Michigan residents aged 25 or older without a college degree to earn tuition-free associate degrees or skill certificates at local community colleges. 

Jacob, 26, worked with both organizations and received a scholarship from Reconnect to cover the $4,500 in tuition fees for the academy and Oakland80 helped him cover around $1,000 in expenses for a laptop, books and firefighting gear. “Books can be costly,” said Oakland80 administrator Rana Al-Igoe. “Equipment and other educational materials can also be costly, so we have resources through Oakland80 to help students that find themselves in a crunch and supply some of those emergency funds.”

Oakland80 works with over 75 partners including employers, nonprofit organizations, labor institutions and educational institutions to help Oakland County residents. The program is also supported by Federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, which have been allocated to the Oakland80 initiative since 2021 and includes $9.2 million for career and education navigator services and $9 million for supportive services. In 2020 the county achieved a 60% post-high school qualification rate. It is now at 69.9%. “80% is very ambitious and very doable,” said Al-Igoe. “We are almost halfway there. These types of initiatives help our employers and our residents.” Jacob signed up for the fire academy in May 2025, passed his agility test and began classes in October. He continued working full-time in retail and is scheduled to graduate from the academy later this month. He’ll continue training to become an EMT and paramedic at OCC. 

“I haven’t had this much drive and wanting to accomplish a goal since I was 18 years old,” he said. “Having to let go of the creative world felt crazy to me and I had to grieve that a little, but now I will be part of a service industry and be on duty.” He has chosen a profession that is very much in demand. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, firefighter employment is projected to grow 3% to 4% from 2024 to 2034 and over 27,000 openings are expected annually. “Our instructors told us from the beginning this job is in high demand,” said Jacob. “Right now it looks like I will have my choice of where I want to go, but I will make that decision once I finish all my training. Jacob is comfortable with his life-changing decision and said it was something that almost never happened. “Genuinely, I probably would not have been doing it without the help of Oakland80,” he said. “Their help made all the difference.”