The Center of Excellence's subject matter experts Alan Dodkowitz, Nicole Bentley, and Jeremy Faulkner, alongside Amy Shields, the Executive Director of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) Foundation and VP of Programs at ACCE, discussed how chambers can play one or more primary roles in Registered Apprenticeship. Participants also heard findings from a collaborative knowledge assessment given to member chambers and guidance on how chambers can serve as effective conveners of member employers.

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Safal Partners Chief Delivery Officer, Katie Adams, joined federal and state government officials during the Urban Institute’s Vision 2030: Building the Future of Registered Apprenticeship to discuss the need and vision for continued expansion and modernization of Registered Apprenticeship to create a stronger, more skilled American workforce.

This presentation discussed the Centers' work and opportunities for increasing America's public workforce system utilization of Registered Apprenticeship to serve both jobseekers and employers, as well as post-secondary and adult education engagement.  It featured Carrie Amman, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association, and James Disbro, Senior Director of Regional Alignment & Programs Development at CareerSource Suncoast.

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The Center of Excellence lead this interactive workshop during the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association’s Apprenticeship PA Collaborative and Expo. This presentation helps educators, industry employers, and workforce staff learn how to develop, implement, and sustain youth Registered Apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs.

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Maryland's employers are struggling to fill jobs, while parents face the rising costs of college. The state has also set an ambitious goal: by the 2030-2031 school year, 45% of graduating seniors should complete an apprenticeship or earn an industry-recognized credential. Achieving these objectives will require a significant expansion of youth apprenticeships across the state.

This workshop provides insights into how education can seamlessly transition into apprenticeship. It presents data and statistics highlighting the impact and success rates of Registered Apprenticeship (RA) programs and explores the many benefits of combining traditional education with RA, such as enhanced skills acquisition, job readiness, and long-term career success. Industry experts share examples of successful education-to-apprenticeship pathways. This presentation equips you with the strategies and knowledge to bridge the gap between education and apprenticeship, ultimately benefiting both students and the workforce.

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This workshop was presented at the PA Workforce Leaders Symposium and provides a holistic overview of the Investing in America (IIA) Agenda, provides examples of how communities and workforce boards can partner together to leverage resources, and explores how funds can be utilized to train opportunity youth to support Registered Apprenticeship (RA) pathways, other career pipelines, and industry’s growing needs and help Pennsylvania meet their growing workforce needs.

Through the current administration’s IIA Agenda, the administration is collaborating with state and local officials, employers, unions, community colleges, high schools, and other stakeholders to create a diverse and skilled workforce. In particular, the pathways are being created for the opportunity youth in our current and future pipelines, inclusive of the use of RA programs and other meaningful career avenues, which provide incredible earn and learn opportunities.  This workshop discusses these pipelines and how these investments in Pennsylvania can support workforce development for opportunity youth in the State.

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The American public workforce system plays a key role in helping public and private sector employers’ talent pipeline development strategies. Business Services Representatives (BSRs) working for local workforce development boards (LWDBs) are uniquely able to help employers unpack and adopt Registered Apprenticeship (RA). 

This webinar provides key information and tools including an overview of RA, discuss funding that can be utilized to support employers’ RA programs, and demonstrate how RA can support their LWDBs’ WIOA performance metrics.

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In 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded Youth Apprenticeship Readiness grants to 14 organizations to develop or expand registered youth apprenticeships. Grant funds can be spent on activities to support apprentices ages 16 to 24 years participating in Registered Apprenticeship programs in high-demand industries, including manufacturing, health care, information technology, and cybersecurity.

This research report by the Urban Institute provides background on youth apprenticeship programs in the U.S. to provide context for finalizing the design of the implementation evaluation of the Youth Apprenticeship Readiness grants. The report also summarizes the planned activities of the 14 grantees and the key features of each grantee’s youth apprenticeship model and discusses key issues to include in the implementation evaluation.

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The Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) serves more than 9,000 leaders from 1,300 chambers of commerce, including 93 of the top 100 metro areas in the U.S. The Center of Excellence presented at the ACCE's 2024 conference about leveraging Chambers of Commerce in Registered Apprenticeship alignment efforts. Participants explored the five core components of Registered Apprenticeship and gained insights into the current role of Chambers of Commerce in these programs. The session showcased best practices for Chamber involvement, featuring a presentation from the Greater Cleveland Partnership. Attendees also learned how their Chambers can engage more effectively to benefit local jobseekers, employers, and the Chambers themselves.

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This flowchart shows the relationship between recruitment and retention services for pre-apprenticeship to apprenticeship with your local workforce board. Once a participant transitions from pre-apprenticeship to apprenticeship, available resources for apprentices consist of On-the-Job Training, Supportive Services, and Related Technical Instruction.

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As part of the Center of Excellence’s work on System Alignment and Strategic Partnerships in Registered Apprenticeship, the Center chose five initial states in 2021 to do focused work with leaders across workforce, industry, education, and labor. California was one of the five states. Center lead, Safal Partners, engaged the California Workforce Association (CWA) as a lead partner on the Center grant.

Together, Safal Partners, CWA and leadership from the state apprenticeship agency (Division of Apprenticeship Standards – DAS) and the U.S. Department of Labor (U.S. DOL) Office of Apprenticeship (OA) formed a Leadership Team of representative organizations to guide the Center’s work in the state. The team is comprised of 26 members representing industry, workforce, education, government, and labor; it has representation from both the state and local level within each sector.

This Center of Excellence California Regional Sessions Report-Out documents the 2022 regional sessions utilizing methods such as asset mapping and guided questions focused on opportunities and actions. Overviews of meeting outputs are recorded from the Sacramento, Clovis, Long Beach regions.

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Apprenticeship Training Representatives (ATRs) and Business Services Representatives (BSRs) are key in system alignment for Registered Apprenticeship (RA) and the workforce system. By collaborating, ATRs and BSRs can rapidly accelerate effective employer outreach and engagement in RA nationwide. While both ATRs and BSRs have their own unique set of responsibilities, the overlap in their respective roles related to employer engagement presents a natural opportunity to collaborate for accelerating industry’s understanding and adoption of RA to build talent pipelines which will, in turn, benefit job seekers who are served by Local Workforce Development Board case managers.

This “capstone” training session is the culmination of the first four sessions which were developed for each stakeholder group focused on educating each group on the other’s work. This session includes interactive learning from workforce experts and features effective ATR and BSR partnerships.

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This is the second session for ATRs in this training series.

Broad and robust partnerships give value to expanding registered apprenticeships that ultimately help meet program outcomes and increase engagement with employers. Building on the knowledge gained from the first Apprentice Training Representative (ATR) session, this training includes how to engage with Business Services Representatives (BSRs) to develop strategies for effective, collaborative outreach to industry in developing new and expanded registered apprenticeship (RA) programs; promising practices for engaging with BSRs and other Local Workforce Development Board staff; and what successful collaboration between ATRs and the workforce system can look like.

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In cooperation with the USDOL’s Office of Apprenticeship (OA) and its Division of Indian and Native American Programs (DINAP), the Center of Excellence hosted a webinar series featuring Safal Partners, a U.S. DOL funded Cyber and Tech Industry Intermediary and Registered Apprenticeship (RA) program sponsors in Washington State. Presenters gave details about their RA programs and application process to professionals representing Native American jobseekers, Tribal college career centers, one-stops, and other workforce offices to show how to connect their workforce program participants and students to federally RA opportunities in the State of Washington.

Each webinar session consists of three different apprenticeship programs sharing their program’s occupations, application dates, application process, expectations, wages, cost, benefits, work/school location(s), and other pertinent details and includes a short Q&A period. This recruiting opportunity is designed to benefit Native American jobseekers and to bridge partnerships between RA programs and tribal organizations.

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This second Business Services Representatives’ (BSRs) training session features how registered apprenticeship (RA) bolsters the success of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) business services, the RA System and the role of Apprenticeship Training Representatives (ATRs), and how to coordinate and collaborate with ATRs and Navigators.

RA is an ideal solution for many employers that are partners with workforce boards and American Job Centers. This online training explores innovative ways that apprenticeship ties in with WIOA business services. It also equips you to connect with and leverage the support of the apprenticeship system on behalf of employers.

By connecting intentionally and regularly with ATRs, WIOA business services can better engage employers, place candidates in well-paying RA employment, and increase positive WIOA performance metrics.

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The National Association of Workforce Boards held The Forum in Washington, DC. about workforce policy, initiatives, and trends.

Registered Apprenticeship (RA) subject matter experts, Alan Dodkowitz from Safal Partners, Brent Weil from the Wireless Infrastructure Association, Jeff Smith from the U.S. DOL Office of Apprenticeship, and James Disbro from Career Source Suncoast, presented to workforce stakeholders discussing core RA-related elements of the Investing in America Agenda and promising practices for partnership development to access and implement Investing in America funding.

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