By SDCN Editor
Sacramento, CA–The California Community Colleges recognizes this week, Nov. 17 through the 23, as the 10th anniversary of National Apprenticeship Week by “Celebrating 10 Years of Engagement, Expansion and Innovation.”
Apprenticeship programs offer a unique blend of hands-on training and classroom learning, providing learners with valuable skills and hands-on experience to prepare them for future careers.
The state’s community colleges are the largest workforce development and training system in the nation. They are uniquely positioned to create, pilot, and expand apprenticeships across many career pathways, including nursing, manufacturing, and information and agricultural technologies. The system plays a crucial role in Governor Gavin Newsom’s goal of training 500,000 apprentices by 2029. To date, 94,000 registered apprentices and 2,200 registered pre-apprentices have stepped foot on one of our 116 California community colleges. This is about 20% of the goal.
“While we celebrate this milestone, we continue to identify student-centered approaches to learning and skills preparation. Through the California Apprenticeship Initiative, the New and Innovative Pre-Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Grant Programs and the California Opportunity Youth Apprenticeship Grant, among others, we are removing barriers and facilitating access to jobs in high-growth, high-demand industries,” said California Community Colleges Chancellor Sonya Christian.
The college apprenticeship training programs are working to achieve multiple goals of the system’s strategic plan, Vision 2030, including increasing the number of students who are acquiring degrees, credentials, certificates, or skills that prepare them for in-demand jobs; increasing the number of career education students who report being employed in their field of study; and reducing, and fully closing, equity gaps across all career training and employment metrics.
California community colleges are the largest system of higher education in the nation, composed of 73 districts and 116 colleges serving 2.1 million students per year. The colleges provide career education and workforce training, guaranteed transfer to four-year universities, and degree and certificate pathways.
