Integrating Pre-Apprenticeships – Climate Corps Resource Hub

Explore recommendations and best practices on how to build equitable pre-apprenticeship service programs.

Guest Perspective: Vanessa Bennett, Robert Godfried, Brent Kossick

This article summarizes the report “Advancing Pre-Apprenticeship Programming Through National Service.” This report was co-authored by Service Year Alliance, Jobs for the Future, and Next100 and provides grantees, state service commissions, and the AmeriCorps federal agency with recommendations and examples on how to build equitable pre-apprenticeship national service programming that provides service year corps members with workforce skills and prepares them for entry into an apprenticeship or career.

National service programming has a long track record of launching corps members into a wide variety of careers. With the recent passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act, billions of new dollars are set to flow into the economy as the United States makes a once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure, green energy, and health care. Yet, the United States is in the midst of a workforce shortage and lacks adequate pathways necessary to fill the jobs of the future. New and existing apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs will play a central role in connecting the next generation of workers to these opportunities. This is a pivotal opportunity for the national service ecosystem to prepare the next generation of civic leaders to enter these careers by embracing workforce pathway models including pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programming.

National service programs can offer powerful workforce development opportunities for the individuals they engage, especially young adults. Market research studies conducted by Service Year Alliance indicate the growing importance that young people view service as more than a gap year, and instead clearly understand how the experience will assist them in achieving their next steps in life. Furthermore, Service Year Alliance’s Pathways After Service Report demonstrates that well-designed national service programs provide corps members with the opportunity to gain the technical and employability skills that are valued by a wide range of employers and Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs, or Registered Apprenticeships). For many AmeriCorps programs, it will not take a dramatic shift in design to serve as effective pathways to family-sustaining careers and quality RAP opportunities. In many cases, only minor adjustments are needed for programs to adopt pre-apprenticeship models and engage the apprenticeship system.

Integrating service with pre-apprenticeship programming offers some of the most innovative, equitable, and replicable workforce development training models within the national service ecosystem. Adopting a pre-apprenticeship curriculum is an opportunity to increase a program’s value proposition by creating clear post-service pathways for corps members.

Aligning with the pre-apprenticeship model can enhance recruitment and outreach efforts for service organizations and help to drive diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

Additional benefits of aligning service with pre-apprenticeship models include increased flexibility to advance workforce development efforts, ability to expand employer partnerships and provide corps members with advanced standing in a Registered Apprenticeship, and opportunities to enhance the service experience through structured career exploration, mentorship, and wraparound services. Pre-apprenticeships also provide members with critical opportunities for career exploration, quality mentorship, and social capital accumulation, as well as wraparound services.

High-quality pre-apprenticeship program models not only incorporate the development of technical and employability skills, but also build off the existing ability of national service programs to provide participants with the professional support they need for long-term success. Pre-apprenticeship programming can also strengthen existing efforts on the part of service programs to provide personal support and life skills to corps members by increasing opportunities to leverage community resources, provide wraparound services, and support the exploration of post-service career and education pathways. While there is not a federal registration process for pre-apprenticeship programs, the U.S. Department of Labor has issued guidance on key elements that should be included. These elements, outlined in “Training and Employment Notice 13-12,” include approved curricula, simulated work experiences, facilitated entry into a RAP, an emphasis on increased diversity, supportive services, and sustainable partnerships.

Below you will find a gloss of the report’s recommendations. The full report can be found on the Service Year Alliance and Next100 websites.

Explore Further

Best Practice: Create a Post-Service Pipeline into a Registered Apprenticeship Program

Program Spotlight: The Digital Service Fellows, Pennsylvania

The Urban Technology Project’s Digital Service Fellows is an AmeriCorps program that is a collaboration between Launch Philadelphia (Communities in Schools of Philadelphia), a nonprofit that provides services to help students stay in school, and the School District of Philadelphia, focusing on opportunity youth. The program incorporates pre-apprenticeship programming that is geared toward Philadelphia high school graduates who are interested in careers in the information technology (IT) sector.

Corps members who excel in the program have the opportunity to interview for a Registered Apprenticeship Program that is housed within the public school system, which leads participants into family-sustaining careers in IT. The program has a strong focus on providing corps members with personal and professional wraparound supports and places roughly 80 percent of the pre-apprenticeship graduates.

Best Practice: Build Off-Ramps into Apprenticeships Opportunities

Organization Spotlight: Civic Works, Maryland

CivicWorks, a non-profit that administers multiple AmeriCorps programs, provides robust job training and skill development for members during service. This organization aims to strengthen Baltimore’s communities through education, skills development, and community service.

CivicWorks partnered with The Corps Network and Jobs for the Future to develop and offer three-month AmeriCorps terms of service that incorporate pre-apprenticeship programming in Maryland. The pre-apprenticeship provides members with on-the-job-training and related technical instruction and supports members’ entry into the National Association of Landscape Professionals Landscape Apprenticeship Program. By completing their term of service, CivicWorks corps members are awarded 200 hours toward the completion of the 2,000-hour Landscape Professional Registered Apprenticeship Program and advanced standing in the program.

Depending on whether you are operating a program, or are a comimssion or allied organization, your next steps will look a bit different
- For National Service Programs:
  - Assess the intersection between the workforce ecosystem and the program model.
  - Assess workforce opportunities and establish and expand relationships with employers and apprenticeship programs, and collaborate with local workforce development boards to leverage WIOA and other applicable funding.
  - Ensure equity and access in pre-apprenticeship programming.
  - Clearly understand the AmeriCorps 80/20 rule.
- For State Service Commissions and allied organizations:
  - Engage and coordinate with state and local agencies to create joint pre-apprenticeship programming with braided funding streams that meet state needs.
  - Partner with the state department of labor and local workforce development boards to leverage WIOA funding.
  - Prioritize quality pre-apprenticeship programming and workforce development training in grantmaking decisions, and provide technical assistance to national service grantees.
  - Partner with and support programs in collecting post-service corps member outcomes in pre-apprenticeships.
  - Work with pre-apprenticeship programs and industry providers to help corps members understand how to use their education awards.

Best Practice: Partner with State Workforce Development Boards to Build Innovative AmeriCorps Programming

State Service Commission Spotlight: Serve Washington

Serve Washington is the AmeriCorps state service commission for Washington State and is charged with administering State and National AmeriCorps funding in the state. Commission staff chose to prioritize funding for AmeriCorps programs with a workforce development focus on high-growth industries that offer a family-sustaining wage, and that young people have demonstrated an interest in. Serve Washington has been developing a working relationship with their state-level workforce development board, and there is a collective understanding between the two entities that they have to work together to be effective in meeting state-level needs. They meet semi-regularly to identify ways that they can work together to create service programs to meet state needs.

One example of this collaboration is the IT Service Corps pilot program with Washington Service Corps. Serve Washington and the state workforce development board recognized there is a digital divide in the state, as well as youth interest in entering a technology career. They reached out to the Washington Public Libraries to partner with them to create an IT Service Corps focused on training underserved individuals for careers in IT. Serve Washington and the state workforce development board also worked together to put forward funding requests to the state legislature to support this initiative. Serve Washington takes an active role in advocating for service with the state legislature, and they often partner with the state workforce development board to put forward legislative agendas that intertwine workforce and service needs of the state.

Action Steps

Review recent national service focused reports and guidance resources to get a deeper sense of possibilities and approaches.

Depending on whether you are operating a program, or are a comimssion or allied organization, your next steps will look a bit different
- For National Service Programs:
  - Assess the intersection between the workforce ecosystem and the program model.
  - Assess workforce opportunities and establish and expand relationships with employers and apprenticeship programs, and collaborate with local workforce development boards to leverage WIOA and other applicable funding.
  - Ensure equity and access in pre-apprenticeship programming.
  - Clearly understand the AmeriCorps 80/20 rule.
- For State Service Commissions and allied organizations:
  - Engage and coordinate with state and local agencies to create joint pre-apprenticeship programming with braided funding streams that meet state needs.
  - Partner with the state department of labor and local workforce development boards to leverage WIOA funding.
  - Prioritize quality pre-apprenticeship programming and workforce development training in grantmaking decisions, and provide technical assistance to national service grantees.
  - Partner with and support programs in collecting post-service corps member outcomes in pre-apprenticeships.
  - Work with pre-apprenticeship programs and industry providers to help corps members understand how to use their education awards.