Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced $50.5 million in federal discretionary grant funding to expand the availability of registered apprenticeship programs. The ApprenticeshipUSA State Expansion Grants will award 33 grants ranging from $700,000 to $3.2 million to states in order to help expand and integrate apprenticeship opportunities, including through connections with education and workforce systems. The grants will enable states to increase their efforts to market apprenticeship programs to new sectors and populations, increase their outreach to business and industry partners and innovate new approaches to the model.
“The Obama Administration is ‘all in’ on apprenticeship for a simple reason: it works,” said DOL Secretary Thomas Perez in a release on the announcement.
States applying for consideration must submit their applications by September 7, 2016, and can access additional information here. The funds are a part of DOL’s broader $90 million funding strategy announced in April to strengthen the apprenticeship system nationwide, and build on the Obama Administration’s previous investment of $175 million in 2015.
ACTE values the contributions of apprenticeship programs in preparing more students for college- and career-success, and will continue to monitor federal grant opportunities to expand both these and other promising models of CTE.
The grants will enable states to increase their efforts to market apprenticeship programs to new sectors and populations, increase their outreach to business and industry partners and innovate new approaches to the model.
Posted by: Keziah | 07/24/2016 at 05:17 AM