DOL issues new funding opportunity to support youth apprenticeship expansion

Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced the availability of $42.5 million in Youth Apprenticeship Readiness Grants, the first federal grant initiative specifically targeted at youth apprenticeship since the School-to-Work Opportunities Act became law almost 25 years ago.

As it stands, only about 20 percent of new registered apprentices are between the ages of 16 and 24 when they begin their programs. By offering 15 to 25 grants of $1 million to $5 million each to public-private youth apprenticeship partnerships operating at the regional, state, or national level, DOL hopes to grow the overall number of youth apprentices and to expand youth apprenticeship opportunities in healthcare, IT, advanced manufacturing, financial services, and other fast-growing industries.

Youth apprenticeship partnerships that have designed their programming according to the Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship (PAYA) Principles of career-orientation, equity, portability, adaptability, and accountability will be well-positioned to apply for the Youth Apprenticeship Readiness Grants. Applicants must demonstrate program alignment with colleges, career and technical education programs, and industry credentialing practices. The application process also places specific emphasis on partnerships’ plans to better support apprenticeship success among women, people of color, ex-offenders, and other learners who have historically made up a smaller share of the apprentice population.

The initiative’s primary focus is to increase the number of young apprentices in Registered Apprenticeship programs, but grant funds may also be directed towards wraparound support services such as transportation, childcare, and housing, and to pre-apprenticeships that adhere to DOL’s quality framework. This flexibility should provide more options for eligible lead entities—education and training providers, workforce development boards, industry intermediaries, and state agencies—to implement practices that make apprenticeship work for more young people.

Despite its flexible allowable uses of funding, however, the grant initiative’s central performance criterion is enrollment of registered youth apprentices. For the minimum $1m in grant funding, applicants must plan to enroll at least 200 registered youth apprentices within the four-year grant period. These ambitious enrollment goals are likely to favor partnerships with an existing track record of youth apprenticeship development; large citywide, statewide, or national partnerships that offer an array of youth apprenticeship career pathways will probably have an advantage, too.

Grant applications are due by May 6th, so prospective applicants will need to act quickly. In addition to PAYA’s National Principles and Definition for high-quality youth apprenticeships, interested partnerships can draw on a suite of recently released resources from PAYA’s National Partners, including a self-assessment and planning tool that can be used to evaluate a partnership’s capacity and preparedness to build high-quality programs.

For the 45 members of the PAYA Network, the new Youth Apprenticeship Readiness Grants provide validation of months of hard work and advocacy. Youth apprenticeships aren’t easy to build, but it’s exciting to see this level of new investment, especially as young people face up to unprecedented economic hardship over the coming years.

For additional information on the grant initiative, click the "Download" button above to view a slide deck that was presented to an April 9 meeting of PAYA Grantees. Click here to access an FAQ document produced by the U.S. DOL.

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