Properly implemented supportive services can ensure higher retention rates for apprentices in skilled, nontraditional occupations. However, most Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs don’t have a framework for working with state or federal grant programs or their local workforce development board (LWDB) to access Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and non-WIOA funded supportive services for their youth or adult apprentices. Learn how one CTE Center works with its LWDB and braids state and federal apprenticeship grant funding to provide critically-needed supportive services to apprentices.

As a Registered Apprenticeship program sponsor, the Special School District of St. Louis County’s Adult CTE Department has implemented a promising programmatic model and support service delivery practice for its multi-occupation adult apprenticeship programs, including Certified Nurse Assistant, Certified Medication Technician and Level One Medication Aide, as well as its “Healthcare S.T.A.R.S.” Pre-Apprenticeship program. These practices range from mentoring, case management, and linkages with community services partners to providing financial assistance with childcare, transportation, housing, and utility costs.

This presentation was given during the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) CareerTech Vision 2023 workshop.

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This report by the National Skills Coalition articulates the imperative for establishing a racially inclusive workforce through comprehensive training and advocates for the implementation of both state and federal workforce development policies to advance racial equity in educational attainment, employment, and income. The United States of America boasts a distinctive strength in its ethnic and racial diversity among residents. Nevertheless, disparities persist for Black, Latinx, Pacific Islander, Native, and specific Asian American workers in areas such as educational attainment, employment, and income. This report suggests policies such as investing in apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship to address decades of intentional, structurally racist policies.

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WorkforceGPS has compiled resources for quality pre-apprenticeship programs that lead to Registered Apprenticeship. Pre-apprenticeships not only build the basic literacy, math, and work-readiness skills today’s employers require, but also provide pre-screened, qualified, and job-ready apprentice pools. Join WorkforceGPS to access these key resources.

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Building and maintaining a highly skilled and diverse construction workforce is imperative. To help foster this understanding, the Aspen Institute’s Workforce Strategies Initiative (WSI) investigated how pre-apprenticeship programs are used to train low-income and disadvantaged adults for careers in construction. The following research interviewed 25 leaders of promising and innovative pre-apprenticeship programs across the country to explore factors that impact how programs are designed and to identify policies that constrain and support their efforts. Above all, they found that pre-apprenticeship programs play a significant role in developing a skilled and diverse construction workforce.

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This document by The Aspen Institute provides findings on how construction pre-apprenticeships programs connect low-income adults to construction careers and help construction employers find the diverse, skilled workforce needed to be successful. The report also outlines working within the construction industry, the value pre-apprenticeship programs provide, as well as policy recommendations for workforce development leaders.

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The National Skills Coalition gives an overview of work-based learning and discusses how childcare and pre-apprenticeship have a role in expanding and completing apprenticeship programs. The brief also gives recommendations for federal and state policy to make these two offerings available nationwide.

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This Center of Excellence Office Hours provides technical assistance for workforce development boards and education entities regarding becoming a Registered Apprenticeship sponsor. Hear how education providers and workforce development boards can help a business start a registered apprenticeship by becoming a sponsor. Additionally, current sponsors in the education and workforce fields share their expertise in becoming a sponsor.

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Mapping IET to Pre-Apprenticeship and Registered Apprenticeship Programs This presentation at COABE's Annual Conference in May 2023 provides Adult Education (AE) leaders and instructors with background on Apprenticeship, findings from the Center's nationwide assessment of adult educators' knowledge of apprenticeship, and tools to help map Integrated Education and Training (IET) programming to pre-apprenticeship and Registered Apprenticeship programs, helping create accelerated pathways for adult learners into high-quality career pathways.

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Use this resource to align your Integrated Education and Training (IET) programs with pre-apprenticeship and Registered Apprenticeship (RA). This resource is aligned to the IET design toolkit, and whether you are developing an IET program with pre-apprenticeship or RA in mind or want to align your current IET programs, this resource will help to support a direct pathway into a pre-apprenticeship and RA.

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With a national focus on reskilling and upskilling job seekers and incumbent workers for in-demand careers, many organizations are turning to apprenticeship programs to deliver this training. Earn-and-learn models are excellent ways to increase access to careers with family sustaining wages. Unfortunately, many immigrants, refugees, and speakers of other languages are unable to access these programs, simply because English is a barrier. In this webinar, you’ll learn how institutions can offer flexible, blended English onramps to apprenticeship programs. The discussion will center on practical, evidence-based ways of delivering career-specific English language training at scale with a focus on models that can work across sectors and contexts. The presentation will include time for questions so participants can discuss how to adapt these models for their own contexts.

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This webinar will provide a technical look at how one Office of Education developed pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships to help resolve the talent pipeline challenge they faced. Join us to hear Pam Knapp, San Joaquin County Office of Education as she explains why they started this journey and what she advises for those just starting out with Youth Apprenticeships.

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COABE co-founded Behind Every Employer to strategically highlight the need to bring together industry and education partners to develop innovative and scalable solutions to current and future workforce needs. In this episode of the podcast, Safal Partners Nicole Klues talks about the Center of Excellence and how adult education can use the model of apprenticeship to prepare tomorrow's workforce.

Use these presentation slides to understand more thoroughly what the Registered Apprentice Technical Assistance Center of Excellence does, what apprenticeship is and why it's growing, and learn about how to use pre-apprenticeship as a growth strategy.

This Toolkit was created to help those whose work involves designing and running pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs to intentionally encourage and support the inclusion of apprentices who reflect the full diversity of our communities — in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, primary language, disability, age, sexual orientation, and other factors.

Meet your USDOL Apprenticeship Training Rep

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