Career and Technical Education – Cape

November 18, 2024November 18, 2024

National Apprenticeship Week 2024: Celebrating a Decade of Advances in Inclusive Policy

By Mary Greenfield

National Apprenticeship Week is November 17–23, and there’s no better time to highlight the value of registered apprenticeship programs (RAPs) as a proven pathway to employment for youth and young adults. With historic levels of federal investment in high-demand industries such as manufacturing, construction and clean energy, these good jobs require a pipeline of trained talent that RAPs can help fill.

Fortunately, federal and state governments have been prioritizing the advancement of RAPs, creating policies and directing funding over the past decade to increase access to these paid, on-the-job learning opportunities. Policy work has also focused specifically on improving access for underserved and marginalized groups, such as youth with disabilities.

Below, the Center for Advancing Policy on Employment for Youth (CAPE-Youth) notes some of the major milestones in the advancement of RAPs over the past 10 years, along with resources about apprenticeship for employers, apprentices and workforce system providers.

2014

Passage of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). Passed in July of 2014, WIOA provides states with funds to strengthen workforce development programs. Title 1B of WIOA allots formula funding to local workforce boards to cover training and related instruction costs for apprenticeships as well as costs associated with supportive services (e.g., transportation, clothes, books, etc.). Reducing these barriers allows more people to access RAP opportunities and a pathway to financial freedom. For more information, check out the Federal Resources Playbook for Registered Apprenticeship.

2016

Modernization of the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Regulations for the National Apprenticeship Act (or Fitzgerald Act, first enacted in 1937). The updated EEO regulations prohibit discrimination against apprentices and applicants based on race, color, age, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information or disability and establish affirmative action requirements for apprenticeship sponsors. Shortly after the update to the EEO regulations, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) introduced the Voluntary Disability Disclosure Form 671 Section II, Part A, which allows apprentices and applicants with disabilities to self-identify without risk of penalty and helps sponsors better identify and report the number of apprentices who identify as disabled.

2018–20

DOL funds the Apprenticeship Inclusion Models (AIM) demonstration projects. The AIM projects explore approaches to make RAPs more accessible to youth and adults with disabilities. The resources published from these projects continue to guide states on best practices for successfully recruiting and retaining apprentices with disabilities.

2019

Implementation of the 7% “aspirational goal” adopted in the EEO Regulations begins for covered sponsors. The goal sets a benchmark that 7% of sponsors’ apprenticeship workforces consist of qualified individuals with disabilities.

2020

DOL’s Office of Disability Employment Policy launches the Partnership on Inclusive Apprenticeship to help employers and apprenticeship intermediaries design inclusive apprenticeship programming in the emerging fields of clean energy, health care, and more. PIA also provides resources that help influence the adoption of inclusive apprenticeship approaches and best practices across the nation.

Today, 80% of states report providing funding to apprenticeship sponsors to increase both employer participation in apprenticeship and the number of apprentices. Of the 37 states that have incentives encouraging apprenticeship—through either tuition support or tax credits—more than half include explicit benefits for hiring youth apprentices or people with disabilities. For more on how incentives can support adoption of inclusive apprenticeships, check out this report from the Urban Institute.

As of September 2024, more than 40 states also have pre-apprenticeships that serve young people (ages 16–24). The DOL-funded initiative YouthBuild, which operates in 40 states, has proved successful in promoting access to pre-apprenticeship, hosting 280 programs that have served more than 200,000 youth to date. Proposed amendments to the National Apprenticeship Act if passed, would reprioritize pre-apprenticeships as a useful pathway to recruit more young people from underrepresented populations into RAPs. For more on how states can strengthen pre-apprenticeships for people with disabilities, check out this AIM report.

Over the last decade, apprenticeship has led to good jobs and changed lives. If enacted, current proposed amendments to the National Apprenticeship Act would shape hiring standards to guarantee diversity to RAPs and continue to expand access underrepresented groups of young people have to pursue apprenticeships. As we progress into the next decade, we must continue to safeguard the participation of young people from all backgrounds, with or without disabilities, in apprenticeship.

To find out how you can collaborate with your state to increase apprenticeship opportunities for youth and young adults, submit a free request for technical assistance on the CAPE-Youth website. To stay up to date on CAPE-Youth’s inclusive apprenticeship work, follow us on X, Facebook and LinkedIn.

May 7, 2024May 7, 2024

Lessons from Ohio: How State Agency Apprenticeships Can Serve Young Adults with Disabilities

By Aidan Harty and Mary Greenfield

In 2019, Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio passed Executive Order 2019-03D, which designated the state as a “model employer” of people with disabilities. Inspired by the executive order, the state’s vocational rehabilitation agency, Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD), launched the Ohio Vocational Apprentice Program (OVAP). OVAP provides people with disabilities, including youth and young adults with disabilities (Y&YAD), valuable on-the-job work experience through paid apprenticeships with state agencies.

During this inaugural Youth Apprenticeship Week, May 5–11, 2024, the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)-funded Center for Advancing Policy on Employment for Youth (CAPE-Youth) highlights the ways states like Ohio have successfully leveraged apprenticeship programs to create sustainable career pipelines for young people.

Apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs provide important opportunities for Y&YAD to explore career paths of interest while earning a competitive wage. In Ohio, OVAP apprentices are paid a minimum of $16.50 per hour, funded through OOD, for approximately 25 hours of work per week at a maximum of 1,000 hours throughout their apprenticeship. To date, the program has placed 80 Ohioans with disabilities in apprenticeships across 29 state agencies in career pathways such as customer service, human resources, information technology, finance, graphic design, mail processing, food service, and office professional services.

To help policymakers better understand Ohio’s success, CAPE-Youth recently spoke with Jon Hackathorn, the administrator of the OOD program, about the program’s origins and the factors that have led to its continued success.

Support from the Top

Although it did not directly create OVAP, Hackathorn credits Governor DeWine’s 2019 executive order as the inspiration for the program and a continuing impetus for state agencies to foster inclusivity. “Ohio Governor DeWine is a strong supporter of the program,” says Hackathorn, adding that OOD Director Kevin L. Miller sits on the Governor’s cabinet and keeps the program in front of state leadership.

“It has to begin with the leadership of the state,” Hackathorn says. “Executive Order 2019-03D is something that is leading all of these agencies to be inclusive of individuals with disabilities and [to be] a model employer.”

Working Together

Collaboration is another feature crucial to the program’s success. OOD partners with the Department of Administrative Services and other state agencies to provide diverse opportunities to OVAP participants. Hackathorn meets at least once a month with state talent acquisition staff to share emerging opportunities as agency vacancies become available. Through these efforts, the program has expanded to include apprenticeship opportunities with the Ohio General Assembly and statewide elected officials.

Read the State Exchange on Employment & Disability (SEED) article highlighting how OVAP’s collaboration efforts contribute to the program’s success.

Positive Reviews

Apprentices’ positive work experiences in state agencies are yet another factor in OVAP’s success. “[T]he program provides individuals with opportunities to improve their skills on the job, and that has been very, very important,” Hackathorn says. As apprentices gain valuable skills, such as task management and requesting accommodations, they often grow in confidence, competence, and contentment.

Hackathorn notes that 30 people who finished the program are currently employed in positions that match their apprenticeship, either in the public or private sector. These individuals are now earning an average of nearly $20 per hour. “We had several people who have utilized our apprenticeship program chime in to endorse it,” Hackathorn says.

Over time, successful program outcomes and apprentices’ positive experiences have prompted state agencies to adopt the program. Positive word of mouth helps market the program.

Innovative Thinking

As other states look to OVAP’s model to implement their own apprenticeship programs for young people with disabilities, Hackathorn advises thinking outside the box. He says agencies should understand their business and operational needs broadly and from multiple angles to identify opportunities to serve individuals with disabilities. “Don’t limit positions to only certain areas of the agency,” Hackathorn says. “There can be multiple opportunities within a state structure that agencies can benefit from having an apprentice.”

The future for OVAP is bright, with staff working to make their 100th apprenticeship placement by 2025. For information about other initiatives in Ohio, check out the OOD website. To stay up to date on other CAPE-Youth publications, follow CAPE-Youth on X @CSG_CAPEYouth and on Facebook at CAPEYouth. To stay up to date on ODEP initiatives follow ODEP on LinkedIn.

February 23, 2022October 7, 2022

Career and Technical Education Month

By: Sydney Blodgett

Observed each February, Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month® celebrates the importance of CTE and the accomplishments of related programs across the nation. The Association of Career and Technical Education (ACTE) explains that “CTE is education that directly prepares students for high-wage, high-demand careers. CTE covers many different fields, including health care, information technology, advanced manufacturing, hospitality and management, and many more. […] CTE encompasses many different types of education, from classroom learning to certification programs to work-based learning opportunities outside the classroom.”