Building Stronger American Workforce and Education System Support for Apprenticeship: National Town Hall

Building Stronger American Workforce and Education System Support for Apprenticeship: National Town Hall

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Registered Apprenticeship Technical Assistance Center of Excellence on Strategic Partnerships and System Alignment hosted “Building Stronger American Workforce and Education System Support for Apprenticeship,” a national virtual Town Hall on advancing alignment of America’s apprenticeship, education, and workforce systems. This special event featured U.S. DOL leaders, Megan Baird, the Acting Administrator from the Office of Apprenticeship (OA), and Robin Fernkas, the Deputy Administrator from the Employment and Training Administration Office of Workforce Investment (OWI). 

OA and OWI leadership was joined by the Center lead, Safal Partners, and its five partners - the National Association of Workforce Professionals, Coalition on Adult Basic Education, National Disability Institute, Wireless Infrastructure Association, and FASTPORT – in sharing insights from the field, lessons learned from the Center’s work over the past four years, and recommendations for future work.

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Office Hours - Workforce System Alignment with Registered Apprenticeship: Promising Practices for State and Local Boards

Office Hours - Workforce System Alignment with Registered Apprenticeship: Promising Practices for State and Local Boards

The Center of Excellence hosted Office Hours - Workforce System Alignment with Registered Apprenticeship: Promising Practices for State and Local Boards as a follow-up to the Center of Excellence’s April 25th webinar, where the Center of Excellence, Center Subject Matter Expert, Alan Dodkowitz, provided a deep dive into understanding Registered Apprenticeship (RA) and workforce system alignment, the knowledge gaps that exist, and an analysis of how states are aligning their Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) state plans with RA.

In this previous webinar, James Disbro, Senior Director of Regional Alignment and Programs Development for CareerSource Suncoast, and Brandon Butler, Executive Director of the Maryland Workforce Association, discussed Florida's and Maryland's apprenticeship expansion efforts. Mr. Disbro focused on elements of integration such as a Local Workforce Development Board serving as a RA program sponsor, collaboration with U.S. Department of Labor intermediaries, ways to increase RA programs within the area, engagement with post-secondary institutions, and funding opportunities to support RA. Mr. Butler spoke about Maryland’s approach to RA, challenges faced in implementing apprenticeship programs, and Maryland’s overall RA strategy.

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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. 

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NAWDP 41st Annual Conference

National Association of Workforce Development Professionals 41st Annual Conference

NAWDP’s 41st Annual Conference brought 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. Center Project Director and Registered Apprenticeship (RA) Subject Matter Expert (SME), Katie Adams, and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) SME, Melissa Aguilar-Southard, hosted the workshop, Aligning Workforce and Registered Apprenticeship: Key Components for Success. This interactive workshop focused 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 explored 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 engaged in peer sharing and action planning, working in small groups to develop practical implementation plans for each component. Safal SMEs also provided on-site assessment of WIOA grantees’ compliance and related-RA utilization.  

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