Idea I. Accelerate New Program Growth in Nontraditional Fields with Sector Intermediaries and a Statewide Quality Framework

Meeting the 500,000-apprentice goal demands dramatic growth of nontraditional programs. California needs clear processes for new, diverse partners to enter and support the Registered Apprenticeship system, as well as capacity and expertise to support innovation, generate efficiencies, and guide program development. At the same time, new nontraditional programs must offer critical job quality guarantees to apprentices and deliver return on investment for sponsoring employers. California’s policymakers can take important steps now to ensure innovation happens within the system, rather than outside of it.

Outside of a select set of traditional Registered Apprenticeship occupations in the firefighting and building trades, the employers, education institutions, and community partners needed to develop new programs are largely on unfamiliar terrain. Even with critical support available from consultants from California’s Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS), new entrants often discover that the process of developing and registering new programs can be complex, unpredictable, and time-consuming.

In fields such as health care, information technology, education, and financial services, apprenticeship may look different from traditional offerings. New programs in these fields should meet baseline requirements of a Registered Apprenticeship, but the state can also take steps to help ensure that new programs make the most of existing resources and align with occupation-specific requirements. For example, degree apprenticeship programs, which integrate on-the-job training with credit-bearing coursework at a college, are likely to be of more importance in nontraditional fields where career advancement remains tied to a college degree.¹

Since 2018, the legislatively authorized Interagency Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship (IACA) has convened representatives from diverse industry sectors with nontraditional apprenticeship program experience.² IACA has also formed a number of subgroups by industry sector that are well positioned to create guidelines and templates for new entrants into the system. IACA serves as a forum for sharing how Registered Apprenticeship program and partnership models can adapt to and align with new industry sectors, and its interagency representation allows it to address the roles the state’s education, workforce, and human services systems must play the expansion of apprenticeship into new fields.

Creating new entry points alone for apprenticeship partners will not be enough to support new program formation and expansion, however. Employer and educational partners will need ongoing, sector-specific technical assistance to help them build and deliver training that is aligned to industry standards.

In the building trades and firefighting, this role has been served by joint training funds that receive resources though collective bargaining agreements. The California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Committee, for example, was formed as a statewide intermediary to supporting high-quality apprentice training across subscribing fire departments and their labor partners. In health care, the SEIU-UHW-West & Joint Employer Education Fund supports a range of education and training options including apprenticeship, working with multiple hospitals and health systems across the state. But in many nontraditional apprenticeship occupations, no such intermediary support currently exists.

Without sector-focused intermediary organizations that can work across multiple regions and employers, program development will likely continue in a limited, piecemeal fashion, one employer and one community at a time. Sector intermediaries are important for harmonizing training standards and practices to ensure apprentices’ skills and competencies are portable across employers and regions. They are also helpful for pooling demand and investment across multiple employers, which can create more employer engagement and lower the risk of losing apprentices to a competitor. Additionally, sector intermediaries can be useful for advancing broader state priorities through the apprenticeship system, such as supporting equitable representation of women and racial minorities in apprenticeship.

Following the lead of others states, policymakers in California can support the development of sector intermediaries in a way that is targeted to meet strategic workforce needs. In 2008, Washington State seeded the formation of the nonprofit Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee (AJAC), which works with employers of all sizes across to bolster the aerospace workforce, which is critical to the state’s economy. In California, Early Care and Education Pathways to Success (ECEPTS) exemplifies the sector intermediary approach, by supporting the development of apprenticeship programs in the early care and education workforce, the strength and quality of which is critical for the state’s economy (see Box 2).

By building on the coordinating capacity of IACA and state and national examples of sector-focused intermediaries, California can drive innovation and nontraditional program expansion within the Registered Apprenticeship system to bring the guarantees of apprenticeship to more of its students and workers. Suggested actions include:

• Clarify the mandate and functions of the Interagency Committee on Apprenticeship to accelerate the expansion of “IACA approved” nontraditional apprenticeship programs to meet the 500,000 goal through executive order. The governor’s order should articulate that the mission of IACA is to support innovation, quality, and growth of nontraditional Registered Apprenticeship programs. It should establish a quality and procedural framework for IACA’s review and approval of nontraditional apprenticeship programs. These programs would be registered under the same basic conditions established in CCR 8(2)(1)(4)§212, including progressive wage gains, but create a more efficient way for nontraditional programs to innovate.
• Establish an expeditious, but probationary, approval process to support efficiency, innovation, and improvement of IACA apprenticeships. IACA should commit to the timely review, in 45 days or less, of program standards for the probationary approval of new apprenticeships by standing up an online application process. This would allow programs to move quickly to pilot and continue to recruit new employer partners through the process. All programs would be subject to reapproval following a more in-depth assessment, which would also allow the space for improvements based on experience. Leveraging IACA’s interagency representation, taking steps to align the registration process with required reviews by additional relevant state agencies and licensing boards could further streamline new program development.
• Clarify that IACA-approved nontraditional apprenticeships may be competency-based or hybrid (i.e., including both time-based and competency-based components), in addition to the traditional 2,000-hour time-based option. IACA should offer clear guidance to correct the common misconception that competency-based and hybrid apprenticeships are not an option in California. By allowing easy hybrid or competency-based program registration at the state (rather than national) level, IACA can simplify the process of marketing apprenticeship to nontraditional apprentice employers.
• Establish a public, online inventory of program standards for IACA apprenticeship programs. Direct IACA’s industry subcommittees to collect all currently approved apprenticeship program standards, and, in partnership with California’s Workforce Development Board, to identify high quality, in-demand jobs that do not currently have minimum industry training criteria (MITCs). These collected MITCs should be made accessible to the public online. For example, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) and the California Workforce Development Board could create a searchable repository of MITCs for IACA approved apprenticeships that includes ways to connect with IACA subcommittee leads as well as established apprenticeship practitioners in the state.
• Establish a joint review committee within DAS to guard against potential conflicts and overlap between programs in the traditional and nontraditional space. A review committee within the Department of Apprenticeship Standards composed of members of the California Apprenticeship Council (CAC) and IACA should identify any substantive overlap between IACA approved nontraditional programs and CAC-approved programs in the building and firefighting trades.
• Establish a sector intermediary support fund to seed development and growth of IACA apprenticeships to address strategic workforce priorities. The sector intermediary support fund for IACA approved apprenticeships would issue a competitive request for proposals (RFP) from nonprofit, labor, and industry groups to serve as intermediaries for developing new and growing existing IACA approved apprenticeships. The RFP could be modified periodically to reflect the state’s changing workforce priorities including in the areas of cybersecurity, early care, energy, and logistics. It could also be modified to reflect imperatives around diversity, support for distressed regions, or specific populations. This fund could be managed and resourced through modifications to the Employment Training Panel (ETP) Apprenticeship Training Pilot, which has supported apprenticeship expansion since 2012.³