Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week: A Round-Up of PAYA’s Recent Resources

As the 10th National Apprenticeship Week closes, we want to highlight some of the resources created by the Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship (PAYA)’s National Partners. Since 2018, these organizations have led efforts to expand the youth apprenticeship field. These resources are part of our collective effort to help state and local leaders grow and develop youth apprenticeship.

Grounded in PAYA’s definition and principles for high-quality youth apprenticeship and informed by practitioners across the PAYA Network, this collection of resources supports educators, employers, policymakers, and other key stakeholders to:

• Develop and navigate state policy, including credit policies, funding, labor, and liability laws that pertain to apprenticeship
• Engage key state leaders in setting a vision and policies for youth apprenticeship
• Develop programs with access and equity in mind
• Identify and develop the capacity of intermediary organizations to support youth apprenticeship programs

In Leveraging Credit for Prior Learning in Youth Apprenticeship Strategies, Advance CTE presents actionable strategies for state and local implementation to leverage Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) to close access and opportunity gaps within youth apprenticeship models by lowering the cost of the opportunity. CPL includes the various processes for recognizing and awarding credit for learning that occurs outside of the classroom. This brief highlights examples from Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Governors have a critical role to play in setting a vision and driving action to support the growth of quality youth apprenticeship systems. That’s why the National Governors Association wrote about their year-long policy academy in Actualizing the Promise of Youth Apprenticeship. Six states (Alabama, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina, and Utah) participated in the academy and created policy agendas to expand apprenticeship for youth and young adults. This blog post gives insights into state teams’ priorities and legislative accomplishments.

State investment in a career development economy is critical to connecting student and employer needs. Advance CTE released State Funding Models to Support Youth Apprenticeships, a report highlighting the various funding models of youth apprenticeship across states and the importance of consistent, reliable increases in state financial support. The report features case studies from Georgia, Michigan, Utah, and Wisconsin.

Youth labor law is primarily set at the state level. Employers and program leaders cite frequent confusion and apprehension about these laws, but knowing the facts makes navigating them much simpler. Jobs for the Future (JFF) developed De-Mystifying Youth Apprenticeship: Labor Law and Liability Facts for Employers to help employers understand where to look for applicable provisions and how to ensure safety for their apprenticeships. JFF also published this table of state labor laws to help programs decipher what applies in their states; employers should also look to the Fair Labor Standards Act for federal guidance.

Youth participation in registered apprenticeship has increased by over 100 percent in the last decade, but there is still significant occupational segregation and opportunity gaps across the system as a whole. JFF’s recent webinar provides action steps to create inclusive programs and target support for participants. Programs can also look to the Equity In Youth Apprenticeship Programs toolkit built by the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) to integrate equity practices and strategies into their models.

Education Strategy Group (ESG) produced How Youth Apprenticeship Intermediary Models Can Support Students, Employers, and Communities, a report highlighting the various functions of intermediaries in advancing youth apprenticeship. Intermediaries act as the connector between education and industry and can function as program implementers, field builders, or a hybrid of the two. Like work-based learning models, no two intermediaries are the same. They do, though, all serve a common goal: convening stakeholders (employers, educational institutions, and youth). Understanding the role and functions of an intermediary within a community is critical to the success and expansion of youth apprenticeship. ESG previously published The Critical Role of Intermediary Organizations in Expanding Youth Apprenticeship, which lays out the functions of intermediaries.

You can explore these resources and more in PAYA’s Resource Library, a curated and searchable database of toolkits, reports, case studies, and program resources to help build youth apprenticeship programs, strengthen local and state policies, and engage employers in meaningful partnerships. You can also stay in touch with PAYA to learn about new resources and upcoming events by signing up for the monthly PAYA Newsletter.