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The Illinois Workforce Innovation Board (IWIB) Apprenticeship Committee is headed into a new and exciting time in 2024. We are using the lessons we have learned in the past to make us better equipped to fulfill our mission.
We have welcomed new Apprenticeship Committee members from the hospitality, marketing, aviation, manufacturing, IT, construction, community colleges, and insurance sectors. We have started a new Apprentice Ambassador program comprised of 11 star-shining apprentices across the state; we have created an apprenticeship expansion plan with multiple stakeholders, supported our apprenticeship specialists, and provided other resources, which can be found at ApprenticeshipIllinois.com. I look forward to continuing the committee's work with you all, with a focus on the following charges and priorities.
Charges:
- Charge 1: Expand apprenticeships geographically and to new industries, normalizing work-based learning and apprenticeship models with employers as a value-added workforce solution.
- Charge 2: Increase diversity, equity, inclusion, and access to quality apprenticeship programs leading to careers and economic stability.
- Charge 3: Formalize the apprenticeship ecosystem and statewide coordination across partnering state agencies and other workforce, education, and economic development professionals.
- Charge 4: Grow statewide capacity to provide apprenticeship opportunities to job seekers and employers.
Priorities:
- Identify the factors that affect enrollment, retention, and completion of diverse apprentices.
- Create a statewide 5-year apprenticeship expansion plan with input and agreement from WIOA core partners, industry associations and employers, community-based organizations and non-profits, secondary education, post-secondary education, local workforce areas, and other education, workforce, and economic development partners.
- Support coordination of efforts and collaboration among all education, workforce, and economic development partners who offer or support work-based learning and apprenticeship programs for greater impact, establishing a comprehensive statewide infrastructure and ecosystem.
- Make it easier for employers and employer collaboratives to understand the workforce solutions and supports available to them and support in the creation of apprenticeship programs.
I am honored to be The Illinois Workforce Innovation Board (IWIB) Apprenticeship Committee Chair, and I look forward to achieving our goals in 2024.
--Daniel Serota, Chair
Apprenticeship Illinois Committee
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