NYEC 2025 Annual Forum

National Youth Employment Coalition 2025 Annual Forum

The National Youth Employment Coalition is the nation’s leading youth workforce development forum. This conference unites youth practitioners, policymakers, youth leaders, and stakeholders dedicated to improving the lives of youth and young adults. The Forum creates a collaborative space to share best practices, innovative ideas, advocacy strategies, and practical solutions to common challenges. The Forum works across geographies and sectors to empower each other in their mission to connect youth and young adults to workforce and educational opportunities.

Center Subject Matter Expert, Alan Dodkowitz, hosted an interactive workshop, Building a School to Apprenticeship Pipeline for Opportunity Youth, on May 12th. Attendees heard about how to establish Registered Apprenticeship (RA) programs, conduct effective outreach to Opportunity Youth, and gain practical tools to bridge social services and the education system with the apprenticeship system. Attendees learned how youth’s engagement in RA can improve WIOA grantees’ performance metrics and funding utilization. 

Link to PPT

NAWDP 41st Annual Conference

National Association of Workforce Development Professionals 41st Annual Conference

NAWDP’s 41st Annual Conference will bring together thought leaders and professionals from across various workforce development organizations such as workforce boards, community colleges, private sector business, vocational rehabilitation, economic development, community- and faith-based organizations. On Wednesday, May 6th, Center Project Director and Registered Apprenticeship (RA) Subject Matter Expert (SME), Katie Adams, and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) SME, Melissa Aguilar-Southard, will host the workshop, Aligning Workforce and Registered Apprenticeship: Key Components for Success. This interactive workshop focuses on the crucial partnership between the workforce system under WIOA and RA system, demonstrating how state boards and local boards are implementing RA through virtual and physical service delivery to job seekers and employers.  This workshop will explore key components for aligning and integrating RA programs into local workforce systems and the benefits of this alignment, leading to improved WIOA compliance and performance metrics.  Attendees will engage in peer sharing and action planning, working in small groups to develop practical implementation plans for each component. Safal SMEs will also provide on-site assessment of WIOA grantees’ compliance and related-RA utilization.  

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PA Workforce Development Association 41st Annual Conference

PA Workforce Development Association 41st Annual Conference

The Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association (PWDA) serves as the voice of the Pennsylvania workforce development system and a clearinghouse for workforce development information statewide. They provide development and capacity building opportunities to workforce development professionals, local workforce development boards (WDBs), and other stakeholders while continuing proactive advocacy efforts on behalf of Pennsylvania’s workforce development system. 

Safal Partners' Apprenticeship Senior Subject Matter Expert, Alan Dodkowitz, presented, "Career and Technical Education and Registered Apprenticeship (RA) for Pennsylvania." This session explored strategies for aligning RA with CTE pathways, ensuring that students gain hands-on work experience while gaining the necessary related instruction. Attendees learned how leveraging RA can enhance CTE programs by providing students with structured career pathways and heard best practices for building partnerships between educational institutions, workforce agencies, and employers to create seamless RA pipelines. 

Link to PPT

California Workforce Association WORKCON 2025

California Workforce Association WORKCON 2025

WORKCON 2025, hosted and designed by the California Workforce Association (CWA), showcased innovative and strategic collaborations, partnerships, programs, ideas, and principles that highlighted the remarkable work of California's Workforce Development Boards, Community-Based Organizations, Educational entities, WIOA partners, and all those who are invested in the success of their local communities and the people who live in them. 

Center SMEs Katie Adams and Melissa Aguilar-Southard hosted an interactive workshop on “Aligning Workforce and Registered Apprenticeship: Key Components for Success.” Participants learned about the key components of workforce system alignment with Registered Apprenticeship (RA), the benefits of aligning workforce systems with RA programs, and practical strategies and actionable ideas to build or strengthen workforce system integration with RA. 

Link to PPT