Thursday, August 15, 2019 2:30 PM ~ 3:30 PM ET

Communities across North Carolina are seeking ways to expand and extend apprenticeship program participation to address youth unemployment and employer-reported skill gaps and to make these programs more effective at meeting the needs of employers and students alike.

Description

The North Carolina Justice Center recently released a report that

  1. identifies the barriers to participation in apprenticeship programs for youth in underrepresented populations
  2. provides policy and program recommendations for addressing these barriers. The report was produced with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, and the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness.

Employers and their workforce development partners can use this report to ensure that job training programs for young adults are more effective in connecting local talent to local in-demand jobs. As this report demonstrates, many programs would benefit not only from a heightened awareness of the barriers to participation but also from more structured program participation data that helps stakeholders identify critical milestones and make better investments in local talent development.

Presenter(s)

Allan Freyer, Director, Workers’ Rights Project, North Carolina Justice Center

Allison Forbes, Research Director, Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness