Strategies

• 1. Build Partnerships to Increase Opportunity Youth Participation in Apprenticeships

  Summary

  In communities where apprenticeship options are limited, apprenticeship stakeholders and champions can forge a network of partners by:

  • Identifying specific needs and potential partners who can address them. Even if apprenticeship is new to a particular community, education and workforce stakeholders can help build a case for apprenticeship by providing information about workforce and demographic trends, labor market needs, and gaps in education and skills. The process of assembling this information and sharing the findings will reveal potential partners who might be willing to get involved in the opportunity youth apprenticeship effort.
  • Launching a pilot. Collaborating on a work-based learning program for opportunity youth can test the apprenticeship model in a real-world context, reveal the capacity and commitment of the partners, and determine whether the young apprentices have needs that remain unmet.
  • Establishing a partnership to advance and scale what works. Entering into formal agreements and exchanging resources can establish apprenticeship as a more permanent training option for opportunity youth and provide a foundation that new and emerging programs can build on.

   

  Education and workforce organizations that run multiple programs may find that forging partnerships across those programs internally can be a good place to start the process of building an ecosystem.

   

  Strategy in Action 

  Worksystems (Oregon)

  Worksystems is the workforce development board serving the city of Portland and Multnomah and Washington Counties in Oregon. A nonprofit organization, Worksystems partners with employers, labor groups, government entities, community colleges, high schools, community-based organizations, and economic development programs to help people get the skills, training, and education they need to find jobs or move ahead in their careers, in service of the larger goals of advancing individual prosperity and business competitiveness.  

  Manufacturing, health care and life sciences, and technology anchor the Portland region’s economy. All three sectors looked like promising options for opportunity youth apprenticeship programs when Worksystems joined the AEMF effort. However, in 2020 the pandemic, destructive wildfires across the state, and large-scale social unrest upended Oregon economy and forced many businesses and organizations to change course. Worksystems now seeks to better connect its youth apprenticeship effort to its broader industry engagement strategy.  

    

  During the past several months, the apprenticeship program staff members have done the following: 
  
  

  • Explored opportunities for collaboration with Worksystems’ own health care and manufacturing industry leads with the support of the JFF technical support team.
  • Connected with the Long-Term Care Works—a partnership between the Service Employees International Union (which represents caregivers in Oregon), Rise Partnership (a benefits provider for labor union trusts in Oregon), and major long-term care providers that has launched a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) apprenticeship—to provide a greater range of options for apprenticeships in health care and connections to advancement opportunities in the health care sector.  
  • Laid the foundation for an updated IT industry landscape analysis—an initiative that began when Worksystems staffers and partners were brainstorming to identify potential next steps for an IT youth apprenticeship.  
     

  Moreover, the construction sector has resumed more regular operations, including training, and will now be a potential focus of opportunity youth apprenticeship programming. Worksystems has connections to strong networks of youth-serving organizations, including Portland YouthBuilders and the Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center (POIC), through its NextGen initiative, and those connections should help the organization make the most of its opportunities. 

• 2. Join Existing Partnerships to Expand Opportunity Youth Apprenticeships

  Summary

  Since many communities have the building blocks of an apprenticeship system, organizations that are thinking of launching apprenticeships may find that they don’t need to build programs or partnerships from scratch. They can often plug in to existing networks through labor organizations, technical or community colleges, opportunity youth-focused intermediary organizations, such as those affiliated with the Aspen Institute Opportunity Youth Forum, and workforce service agencies connected to the local American Job Center (AJC).

  The experiences of programs participating in the AEMF effort reveal that organizations seeking to expand opportunity youth apprenticeship have a range of opportunities to join existing networks. An especially effective tactic is to show potential partners that you have insight or expertise that can benefit them. Here are some examples:

  • Youth-serving programs can join partnerships focused on traditional apprenticeship and offer to share their expertise in youth programming and support.
  • Established apprenticeship organizations that want to open their programs to a wider range of potential participants (including opportunity youth) can join youth-serving partnerships and connect with opportunity youth-focused intermediary organizations and offer to share what they know about apprenticeship and help their new partners make connections with local businesses.
  • Employers that have apprenticeship programs but want to bring younger talent into their pipelines can reach out to regional workforce boards and youth-serving organizations for help recruiting opportunity youth to their programs. They could also launch pre-apprenticeship programs that give opportunity youth pathways into full apprenticeships.

  Understanding your organization’s motivations, capacity, and unique value can help you identify opportunities to join partnerships in advancing shared goals.

   

  Strategy in Action

  Adams County Workforce and Business Center (Colorado)

  The Adams County Workforce and Business Center. The local AJC in the Denver metro area, the Adams County WBC, administers workforce programs and related services. Its activities include a partnership with the Denver Opportunity Youth Initiative, which engages young people in leadership opportunities and career pathway development.

  As an entity operating under the regional workforce development board, the WBC has relationships with a variety of apprenticeship programs, and it is capable of supporting dozens of apprentices, including opportunity youth. For example, the Adams County Youth Succeed initiative, a WIOA-funded youth employment program, supports young people who participate in a number of pre-apprenticeship and Registered Apprenticeship programs, including two traditional apprenticeship programs (offered by the Rocky Mountain chapter of the Independent Electrical Contractors trade association and the Pipefitters Local 208 labor union), as well as newer health care and IT work-based learning programs developed by the Colorado Healthcare Experiential Pathways to Success initiative and the Colorado Department of Labor and Education.

  However, despite those connections, the WBC needs additional partnerships with apprenticeship providers and organizations that serve young people to improve its capacity to collaborate across those two domains.

  Toward that end, the center has started working with new partners and collaborating to support youth-oriented community events to build a more comprehensive strategy for recruiting young people to apprenticeship. Adams County WBC’s current efforts include:

   Partnering with established apprenticeship sponsors such as Front Range Community College, Lockheed Martin, Centura and IECRM to provide outreach for programs, share program flyers, and promote information sessions for registered apprenticeships

  • Providing outreach and information to youth-serving community organizations such as DenverWorks, CHAFEE, and Rocky Mountain Partnership with a view toward establishing direct relationships with opportunity youth or connecting with trusted peers who can refer opportunity youth to apprenticeship opportunities.
  • Recruiting opportunity youth by promoting apprenticeship “scholarships” available from multiple federal and state grants to help with the cost of tuition and supportive services such as transportation, work clothes, and tools.