When the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity — LEO — announced Monday some $6-million in registered apprenticeship grants to support career opportunities for under-represented populations in the state, Michigan’s Great Southwest learned that nearly $530,000 of that total is headed to the region.
LEO announced yesterday the recipients of grants totaling more than $6 million to help support the development of over 2,300 Registered Apprenticeship opportunities throughout the state.
In Southwest Michigan, Kalamazoo-based Michigan Works! Southwest will develop 176 registered apprenticeship opportunities thanks to $528,000 in grant dollars, while dollars for Allegan County are included in the West Michigan Works! region, which garnered $525,800 in grants.
The State Apprenticeship Expansion grants have been awarded to nine Regional Implementation Consortia, including Michigan Works! Southwest, to increase and develop registered apprenticeship opportunities. Funds provided by the grant awards will help support 200 employer sponsors for Registered Apprenticeship Program costs, including on-the-job learning and related technical instruction.
LEO Acting Director Susan Corbin says, “Increasing access to Registered Apprenticeship programs means more opportunities for job seekers to earn while they learn, gaining in-demand skills and a nationally recognized credential in a critical industry,” and adds, “At the same time, it helps local Michigan businesses fill a continuous talent pipeline by providing a stream of qualified candidates who are trained and certified based on the employer’s needs.”
Regional Implementation Consortia will lead expansion activities to accelerate the growth of more than 2,300 apprentices with a focus on under-represented populations – including minorities, females, youth, individuals with disabilities and veterans – in high-skill, high-wage, in-demand careers in advanced manufacturing, construction, energy, healthcare, information technology and mobility sectors to help secure Michigan’s future.
Lead partners for the nine Regional Implementation Consortia grant recipients include:
- Michigan Works! Southwest (176; $528,000)
- Jackson Area Manufacturers Association (260 new Registered Apprentices; $780,000 grant award)
- Michigan State AFL-CIO Workforce Development Institute (440; $1,100,000)
- Michigan Works! Region 7B / Great Lakes Bay Michigan Works! (250; $735,750)
- Networks Northwest (100; $300,000)
- Oakland County Workforce Development / Oakland County Michigan Works! (250; $625,000)
- The Michigan Chamber of Commerce Foundation / Michigan Energy Workforce Development Consortium (427; $1,108,666)
- Upper Peninsula Michigan Works! (200; $550,000)
- West Michigan Works! (200; $525,800)
LEO’s Office of Employment and Training Director Stephanie Beckhorn, says, “These grantees are partners committed to incorporating best practices for serving under-represented populations and managing quality pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship readiness programs – all in an effort to create a robust service delivery model that benefits Michigan workers and employers.” Beckhorn adds, “Registered apprenticeship expansion allows us to help more individuals gain paid work experience and related classroom instruction, usually with little or no cost to the individual.”
The grantees will lead statewide and/or local program implementation activities to establish new or expand existing Registered Apprenticeship Programs. Regional Implementation Consortia partners include employers, labor, Michigan Works! Agencies, secondary educational partners, postsecondary institutions and others. Employers interested in sponsoring new Registered Apprenticeship Programs or expanding existing programs may be able to work with Regional Implementation Consortia to become part of the expansion efforts. Additionally, LEO will issue a second RFP opportunity making available more than $5 million for further state expansion in April of 2021.
To increase the overall understanding of apprenticeship opportunities in the state, LEO recently launched the Michigan Registered Apprenticeship Data Dashboard. That online tool allows users to explore registered apprenticeships in regions across the state, including how many active apprentices there are and the occupations and industries in which they are employed. You can link to it at this site:
https://www.michigan.gov/leo/0,5863,7-336-94422_95539_73460—,00.html
To further support Michigan’s registered apprenticeship expansion efforts, a new state-level Apprenticeship Advisory Board has been established. The board consists of members from multiple industry sectors, labor, secondary and postsecondary education, workforce development and the U.S. Department of Labor Michigan Office of Apprenticeship. The board will provide guidance on innovation and implementation strategies to expand Registered Apprenticeship Programs statewide.
The board’s first meeting will be held virtually on March 17th, and once established, the schedule for future meetings will be available at Michigan.gov/Apprenticeship.
To learn more about registered apprenticeship in Michigan, you can visit online at: http://Michigan.gov/Apprenticeship.
