Celebrating National Youth Apprenticeship Week: May 5-11, 2024
HCM Strategists (HCM) is pleased to celebrate National Youth Apprenticeship Week, May 5-11, 2024. In partnership with Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Maryland, we’re creating a coordinated and centralized approach to increase youth apprenticeship opportunities in in-demand industries and ensure that students across the district’s 25 high schools are prepared to succeed in work-based settings. This work requires the school district to invest a significant amount of staff time and hands-on coordination with key partners including employers who host the students, Montgomery College which can provide related classroom instruction, and the local workforce board WorkSource Montgomery for labor market insights and leadership support.
The HCM and MCPS team during their benchmarking trip in Charleston, South Carolina.
With the support of a Maryland Works grant, HCM and MCPS are developing system capacity to scale apprenticeships by crafting a strategic approach to employer engagement, coordinating the work of four “hub” schools as a pilot group, investing in technology systems to manage apprenticeship opportunities more efficiently, and creating a marketing campaign to highlight the power of these business-education partnerships. To accelerate the learning, we have coordinated two benchmarking trips to see best practice youth apprenticeship systems in action in Charleston, South Carolina and District 214 in Illinois. We applaud the hard work of all the stakeholders and partners in Montgomery County and are confident that this year of systems building and core investments will result in an expanded set of apprenticeship opportunities that provide long-term benefits to both students and employers.
Thanks to recent expansion efforts, youth across the country are benefitting from these early “earn and learn” work opportunities, giving them a leg up in developing key skills and industry knowledge that will help them successfully launch into their careers of choice. And employers in a wide range of industry areas are tapping into new workforce talent sources and helping to create sustainable pathways to grow their businesses.
Youth Apprenticeship Week (YAW) is a nationwide celebration that highlights the benefits and value of Registered Apprenticeship program opportunities for youth, ages 16–24. Employers, educators, labor unions, workforce professionals, and their partners across the country are launching Registered Apprenticeship programs that allow youth to earn competitive wages while obtaining the relevant training and experience to start their careers, often including the opportunity to earn college credit. To learn more, click here.
