At GoSprout, we love the month of November and the opportunity to participate in National Apprenticeship Week: November 13th-17th. This year marks the 9th year the event has been held across the nation, and we wanted to share some of our takeaways.
What Is National Apprenticeship Week?
Well, according to apprenticeship.gov:
NAW is a nationwide celebration where industry, labor, equity, workforce, education, and government leaders host events to showcase the successes and value of Registered Apprenticeship for re-building our economy, advancing racial and gender equity, and supporting underserved communities. NAW is an opportunity to highlight how Registered Apprenticeship, a proven and industry-driven training model, provides a critical talent pipeline that can help to address some of our nation’s pressing workforce challenges such as rebuilding our country’s infrastructure, addressing critical supply chain demands, supporting a clean energy workforce, modernizing our cybersecurity response, and responding to care economy issues.
We thoroughly enjoyed the events and seeing the attention brought to RAPs at the national level.
How Did GoSprout Participate in the Miami Area?
We started the week off with Miami EdTech Hosting its Apprenticeship Accelerator Breakfast
We had some incredible speakers:
Professor Luis Olivares-Lugo joined from Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. He is the Managing Director of The Center for Apprenticeships 4.0 and a GoSprout Early-Adopter.
Lili Gangas, Chief Technology Community Officer at Kapor Center, spoke about the importance of the Apprenticeship Model and how it provides for the future workforce.
Lorena Vasquez gave an overview of the current state of RAPs (registered apprenticeships).
Next we attended the Cultivating Talent, 5-Year Achievement Celebration
Miami Dade College recognized some of the premiere RAPs in our community including employers and apprentices alike. One of the greatest highlights was hearing from stakeholders in the local Apprenticeship scene as well as some inspiring remarks by our local Apprenticeship Ambassador Dr. Alexia Rolle, Ed.D., who is a national apprenticeship powerhouse in Miami!
Next it was Pre-Apprenticeship Day
Hosted by Miami-Dade Public Schools and the CTE team here in Miami-Dade, which is the largest school district in the country!
As we rolled into Wednesday, we had the opportunity to spend time with more than 400 students from M-DCPS and CTE and share with them about the great benefits of Registered Apprenticeship Programs.
We finished National Apprenticeship Week with our Webinar featuring Radiance Solar
Another early-adopter, Serina Strickland shared the group’s excitement about creating a RAP in Clean Energy.
What We Learned from NAW 2023
With this year’s theme of “Registered Apprenticeship: Superhighway to Good Jobs” we recognized and learned that registered apprenticeships are key in the economic development of our city as well as addressing the labor shortage we currently face.
We learned the large focus in making Apprenticeships a success is the full buy-in of apprenticeship employers. Explaining what it means to employers and the benefits an apprenticeship model has when adopted correctly. It was exciting to be in a room with employers, making them aware of their importance in the pipeline.
What’s Around the Corner for RAPs Nationally in 2024
So far, Apprenticeships USA announced that it will hold its first annual Youth Apprenticeship Week, May 5-11, 2024, which will highlight the benefits and value of Registered Apprenticeship programs for people ages 16-24! This is key as GoSprout prepares for Pre-Apprenticeship programs as well as Apprenticeship Programs, bridging the pipeline in talent from High School to Young Adults.
What’s Around the Corner for GoSprout
We’re excited to announce that we will be launching the GoSprout app that can be used for apprentices to log their RTI and OJT wherever they are! Stay tuned for the release of that!
If you haven’t already taken a guided tour of our apprenticeship management platform, please sure to book a time. We’re excited to help programs all over the country get off to a great start in 2024!
