California Governor Gavin Newsom has given the state a goal of creating 500,000 new apprenticeships – paid opportunities to learn while on the job – by the year 2030.
The only way to do that is to create a whole new system.
That’s according to a panel of experts convened at this month’s Meeting of the Minds, the annual conference of the California Workforce Association. The panel was made of organizational leaders who not only support the Governor’s goal, but are developing a statewide apprenticeship hub that will support public sector employers, company executives, training providers and other stakeholders in activating and expanding apprenticeships.
Moderator Paul De La Cerda, a principal at the Clover Agency, called it “a state-wide, first of its kind, apprenticeship hub in the state of California.”
Apprenticeships “aren’t just a nice to have, it’s a need to have” for many people trying to access better careers, said Calbright’s President and CEO Ajita Talwalker Menon, a member of the panel. “The goals we have as a state actually require us to collaborate differently. It requires us to push the boundaries of what’s possible with different kinds of models and it requires us to have a common voice and advocacy posture in terms of what we need to see changed in the environment to be able to evolve apprenticeship-based learning opportunities.”
“The goals we have as a state actually require us to collaborate differently. It requires us to push the boundaries of what’s possible with different kinds of models and it requires us to have a common voice and advocacy posture in terms of what we need to see changed in the environment to be able to evolve apprenticeship-based learning opportunities.” – Ajita Talwalker Menon
Panelist Marvin Martinez, chancellor of the Rancho Santiago Community College District, agreed. “Structures in California right now are designed to approve traditional apprenticeship programs,” in areas like building trades and public safety. “They’re not designed to approve non-traditional apprenticeships,” in areas like cybersecurity, IT, hospitality, tourism, and more.
A hub, Martinez said, would provide the statewide organization that California needs to do new kinds of apprenticeships well.
“You would think that because we’re the state of California, we have all the resources, we seem to be very organized, that’d we be really good as it relates to apprenticeship programs. And we’re not. We have a long way to go and a lot of work to do,” he said. “So if you want to create an apprenticeship program at a particular college, you’ve been on your own. You won’t be any more. It’s a huge opportunity for us.”
The key, Menon said, is not just to add one more agency, but to change the culture of collaboration between existing agencies, schools, and businesses – creating bridges that don’t yet exist.
“So many of you might be sitting here wondering and thinking: Well we already have a workforce system and we already have a community college system and we have technical education and we have economic development – we do have all those things, and for most of us who have been involved in those areas and those systems, we know that they are extremely siloed in their own ways,” she said. “So we each carry the football to a certain part of the line, but we never are quite in scoring distance of some of the things that we want to accomplish. So it’s really important to create a space that is not just statewide coordination but to create new spaces to find new ways of working together that drive actual outcomes for the learners that we’re trying to reach, for the job seekers that we’re trying to facilitate transition into the labor market for, and for the employers, especially in the public sector, who desperately need that talent and need to evolve their thinking and perspective on the types of talent that can meet their needs. Creating a space not just for coordination but for true collaboration, for experimentation, for trying out and testing what works, and creating a network of new models and approaches – a hub is essential for that.”
Panelist Emily Gallivan, Senior Director of CA Workforce Programs for the Chef Ann Foundation, said her organization has experienced the difficulty of organizing apprenticeship programs statewide.
“It’s been great to develop relationships one-on-one with community colleges and workforce development boards, but we have had to go one-by-one, and our program this fall will have about 60-70 partners throughout the state of California,” she said. “For us to develop relationships within each of those areas takes time and resources.”
A statewide hub could mean they spend less resources and time on process and towards direct support instead, “working to establish more support resources for our participants,” for example.
With more people served, and better systems for serving them, a statewide apprenticeship hub could be a gamechanger for California’s workers.
