A New Resource to Strengthen Registered Apprenticeship and Workforce Development System Alignment

State apprenticeship expansion grantees are doing an incredible job of growing apprenticeship opportunities that involve a wider range of employers, industry sectors, and job seekers.

The Challenge. Expanding the scope and scale of modern apprenticeship requires exponential growth in the number of Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) and apprentices. To achieve growth of this magnitude, states need access to businesses and potential apprentices at scale, as well as federal and state funding to support business startup of RAPs and apprentice success.

The Opportunity. The workforce development system, with its local workforce boards, American Job Centers, and wide range of partners, offers such access and should be a key partner in every state’s apprenticeship system. From the perspective of the workforce development system, Registered Apprenticeship is a great training and recruiting solution. It gives job-seeking customers good jobs with training and pay raises built in, and it gives businesses a proven strategy to recruit and grow the talent they need to compete—all of which help the system meet its performance targets.

Alignment in Action. Because both systems are flexible and reflect the unique needs of each state, current alignment efforts vary across the country.

• Several states have created policies articulating ways that Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) training resources can support apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship. For example, Michigan’s WIOA Manual for WIOA Title I Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth Programs - Chapter 5 “Training Services” discusses strategies for collaboration and integration as well as pre-apprenticeship. CareerSource Florida’s Administrative Policy on On-the-Job Training addresses Registered Apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship. And at a local level, the Mesa County, Colorado Workforce Development Board developed policy on Registered Apprenticeship Exit.
• A growing number of workforce boards, like GuilfordWorks in North Carolina and the MassHire-North Shore Workforce Board in Massachusetts, have become RAP sponsors, lifting that administrative burden from their business customers—and making it easier for hesitant businesses to say “yes” to apprenticeship.
• Iowa and Idaho have invested heavily to train local business service teams in apprenticeship and outline coordinated processes for employer outreach and RAP development.
• Many states like Maine, Michigan, Florida, and Illinois are embedding apprenticeship navigators in local workforce areas or with key workforce development partners like vocational rehabilitation and corrections to build stronger pipelines of potential apprentices and employers.
• Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley Workforce Development Board is leveraging vocational rehabilitation’s expertise by partnering with them to offer a manufacturing technician pre-apprenticeship program for people with disabilities.
• On the data front, states like Maine and Utah are using their workforce development case management, tracking, and reporting systems to track and report on apprentices.
• And much more . . .

Go Deeper. Our new Alignment resource can help state apprenticeship expansion teams and workforce development system partners understand the structure of each other's work and explore strategies to strengthen alignment. A system alignment checklist at the back of the resource can help states identify areas of strength and opportunities to better align the Registered Apprenticeship and workforce development systems in terms of five key dimensions:

• Strategic planning, policy, and governance
• Business engagement and RAP development
• Apprentice recruitment and support
• Funding
• Data and outcomes

Check out the resource for more ideas and a framework to align the two systems more closely in your state!

• Last Updated:
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• Posted by: Jon Vehlow
• Posted in: State Apprenticeship Grants