NCBCE to use grant funding in pre-apprenticeship program expansion

On Aug. 19, Gov. Roy Cooper announced that the U.S. Department of Labor awarded $4 million to the North Carolina Business Committee for Education to expand registered apprenticeship programs in high-demand fields.

NCBCE will use the grant — which is a part of the Biden-Harris administration’s $195 million Apprenticeship Building America program —  to expand NC Career Launch, an NCBCE program which allows students to enter the apprenticeship track while in high school.

Through the expansion, NC Career Launch will further develop youth pre-apprenticeships, which give high school students the opportunity to prepare for registered apprenticeship programs, Caroline Sullivan, NCBCE executive director, said. 

She said if a student starts on a pre-apprenticeship pathway and then completes a Registered Apprenticeship Program, the state will pay for their community college tuition through the NC Apprenticeship Tuition Waiver.

There are several work-based learning courses students can sign up for in high school, including career and technical education pre-apprenticeships, Jeanne Turner, work-based learning consultant at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, said. These courses allow students to work alongside employers and professionals in a work environment, according to the NC Career Launch website. 

Many students are more successful academically when they’re involved in work-based learning, Sullivan said.

“We’re developing these supportive, flexible pathways for students to get really good careers, get post-secondary education, get it all paid for, no student debt in this and get them on that pathway to success quickly,” she said.

Turner said once a student finishes a pre-apprenticeship by completing 120 hours of work, a student and their employer have the opportunity to proceed and move on into a registered apprenticeship or they can choose to stop the apprenticeship process.

Pre-apprenticeship through NC Career launch allows students to explore different career sectors while having lower commitment, Chris Harrington, the director of ApprenticeshipNC, said. He also said they lower commitment on the employer’s part. 

“It's a good approach, because the reality is, with the worker shortage, it's hard to find employees with the skills that you want,” he said. “And by connecting to youth and to high school, it creates a natural talent funnel for employers.” 

There are over 1,200 occupations that have apprenticeship positions, Harrington said. When thinking about apprenticeships, most people know of the skilled trades like plumbing and carpentry, although sectors like manufacturing, education and health care also offer apprenticeships, he said. 

Some of the critical sectors NCBCE will be focusing on in this program include advanced manufacturing, health care, early childhood education, information technology, cybersecurity and clean energy, Sullivan said.

The program will address equity by providing student transportation and funding for supplies, paying mentors an additional stipend, and giving students an opportunity to learn and make money, Morgan Crawford, the NCBCE deputy director, said. 

“There are many students who need to work when they're in high school, and these programs provide you an opportunity to work and to get paid while you're in high school,” Sullivan said. 

Crawford said the program is also going to pilot supporting registered apprenticeship programs for students with autism spectrum disorder or other intellectual disabilities.

“We're really just trying to erase as many barriers that any student might have to finding a career that they could have life-sustaining wages to support their family,” Turner said. 

By getting paid while being at work and having the support of a mentor through these programs, students end the program feeling confident about where they are in their lives, she said. 

Harrington said that despite numerous opportunities available across the state, apprenticeships are often something people don’t hear about, or something they think is too good to be true.

“It's becoming better known and more widely used," he said. "But, we've got a long way to go.”

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