If you’re read our blog posts or newsletter, you know that the GoSprout team wants to see RAPs proliferate and equity increase.
So we were really excited to hear about some new Department of Labor grants to support increasing the number of women that take advantage of apprenticeships.
Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations
This program, also known by the abbreviation, “WANTO,” has $7 million in funding to distribute.
The Vermont Department of Labor summarizes the program as follows:
WANTO aims to increase the participation of women in sectors where they are traditionally underrepresented, including manufacturing, construction, and cybersecurity. Despite comprising nearly half of the U.S. labor force, women represent only about 14 percent of all Registered Apprenticeships, a proven pathway to secure well-paying jobs and ensure a skilled and diverse workforce. The grants are designed to help community-based organizations attract, train, and retain more women in Registered Apprenticeships and nontraditional occupations.
And we love what they have to say. Manufacturing, construction, and cybersecurity are all supported within our apprentice tracking software.
Fostering Access, Rights, and Equity
The second grant program is more focused on community organizations that assist women who have been the victim of workplace abuse.
Vermont DoL summarizes it as follows:
FARE seeks to assist survivors and women at high risk for workplace violence and harassment. Workplace violence and harassment disproportionately affect women from underserved and historically marginalized communities, including women of color, LGBTQI+ individuals, women with disabilities, and those affected by persistent poverty and inequality. This funding will support community organizations’ efforts to enhance job quality by addressing harmful workplace norms and gender-based violence and harassment.
Fostering equity among marginalized communities is actually one of the many reasons founder Carlos Vazquez got so excited about putting GoSprout together. His own story took him from a Puerto Rican immigrant family in The Bronx to being a tech CEO in Miami. He would love to see those types of transformational more common place for the current generation of youth that will reach adult shortly.
How Can Your Organization Help Close the Disparity?
There are so many ways to help:
Talk About Misconceptions
It’s okay to state the obvious when a new registered apprenticeship opens up. Including verbiage along the lines of, “While this training has historically been considered a “male” job, the apprenticeship is perfectly suited to and welcomes applicants of all genders.”
Highlight Success Stories
Can you find examples of women in the workforce that use the skills developed in the apprenticeship? Show pictures and talk about them in your summaries.
Help Get the Word Out About These Grants
Economic incentives are a powerful motivator. DoL programs like these exists to incentivize change.
But too often, organizations that might benefit aren’t even aware the grants exists. So let’s help get this “motivation money” into the economy.
GoSprout’s Take
We could not be more excited about how much emphasis the DoL and White House have put on publicizing the benefits of apprenticeships.
In terms of employer awareness, we can all do our part to spread the good word that challenges can be solved by these underutilized programs called registered apprenticeships.
And in terms of student/potential apprentice awareness, we can all do our part to let youth, especially from marginalized communities, know that the awesome programs exist where you can make a living wage while getting a degree that leads straight to an in-demand job at a company where you may already know your coworkers.
