Located in:
- Program-specific Requirements for Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth Activities under Title I-B
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include the following with respect to activities carried out under subtitle B--
b. 2. Describe How the State Will Incorporate Registered Apprenticeship into Its Strategy and Services.
Current Narrative:
The state is actively involved in developing a full strategy for the implementation of registered apprenticeships throughout the state and the newly formed Office of Work Based Learning and Apprenticeships will open within DWD in 2018. The state continues to work with the US DOL Office of Apprenticeship in Indiana to coordinate information, expansion and eligibility of apprenticeships in Indiana. As our economy continues to grow, Registered Apprenticeships are playing an increasingly important role with businesses across all industries by providing a pipeline of skilled workers to help them remain competitive. Many employers are increasing their use of Registered Apprenticeships as a “grow your own” strategy to increase and diversify their pipeline of skilled workers. This proven workforce strategy offers apprentices opportunities to earn a salary while they learn the skills employers demand in a variety of occupations.
Indiana has over 800 active apprenticeship programs and had over 12,000 active apprenticeships in 2016 (all statistics from Department of Labor - https://www.doleta.gov/OA/data_statistics.cfm). We are one of the largest apprenticeship states in the nation as far as size and number of programs available. Yet, like the rest of the nation, Indiana currently lacks much needed diversity in terms of ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, and business sector roles. Indiana is uniquely suited to diversify and boost its current apprenticeships palette to fit the dynamic needs of the Indiana workforce.
Indiana, DWD specifically, recently received both the ApprenticeshipUSA State Accelerator Grant and the ApprenticeshipUSA State Expansion Grant in order to grow and expand apprenticeships throughout the state. Through the support of these grants the DWD has worked with Indiana’s USDOL Office of Apprenticeships and other key stakeholders to:
- Identify ways to integrate registered apprenticeship into state education and workforce systems (i.e. WIOA)
- Engage industry and other partners to expand apprenticeship to new sectors, such as IT, healthcare, cybersecurity and business services and to new non-traditional populations at scale
- Conduct outreach and work with employers to start new programs
- Identify ways to promote greater inclusion and diversity in apprenticeship
- Conduct a deep dive on youth apprenticeship models
Incorporate Registered Apprenticeship programs on to the state Education, Training and Provider List (ETPL)
Create a state apprenticeship model