State Apprenticeship Expansion Grants provide funding to States to develop and implement comprehensive strategies to support apprenticeship expansion; engage industry and workforce intermediaries, employers, and other partners to expand and market apprenticeship to new sectors and underserved populations; enhance State Capacity to conduct outreach and work with employers to start new programs; and expand and diversify participation in apprenticeship through State innovations, incentives, and system reforms.
Under this new SAEEI grant program, the Department will continue efforts to expand Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) with states as key facilitators. Grant funds will be awarded to governor-led, state initiatives that are expanding and transforming registered apprenticeship by combining industry expansion, incentives, and reform under the state umbrella. Funding will provide states with the flexibility to meet specific industry needs and demands. Collectively, these efforts will aim to achieve the following goals: 1) System expansion to support the development, modernization, and diversification of RAPs; 2) Partnership and alignment to support workforce system integration; 3) Increasing the number of apprentices enrolled in RAPs, including underrepresented populations; and 4) Innovation in program development and recruitment strategies.
The SAEEI grant program will expand opportunities in RAPs across a diverse group of industry sectors and increase the participation of employers and industry in developing opportunities in apprenticeship. This includes RAPs, and quality pre-apprenticeship programs that can create diverse talent pipelines that directly lead to grant-funded RAPs, during the grant period of performance.
RAPs funded and developed under this grant program must align with the program requirements. Applicants must demonstrate how well they have met the requirements and how innovative the proposed strategies are to expand RAPs. Further, in meeting SAEEI goals, applicants must leverage and align with DOL-funded registered apprenticeship investments to maximize the use of resources and minimize the duplication of efforts, ultimately ensuring the core customers of the apprenticeship system are served efficiently.
Awardees from 2021 are highlighted here: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/eta/eta20210622.
Eligible participants are persons 16 years of age and older who are not enrolled in a RAP at the time of initial grant service. The Department is particularly interested in increasing the diversity of RAP populations by actively recruiting youth, women, people of color, formerly incarcerated individuals, and persons with disabilities, as well as the protected groups. The Department also remains committed to prioritizing veterans. Further, the Department is interested in targeting the populations and industries most affected or displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic.