Greetings Industry Intermediaries, and welcome to the August edition of your Industry Intermediary newsletter. This edition includes an acknowledgement of Women's Equality Day, a success story about Emerson Iaquinto, an Information Technology (IT) registered apprentice, and familiar subjects such as intermediary innovations, apprenticeship in the news, resources and announcements, and reminders.

Since 1971, Women’s Equality Day has been celebrated on August 26th to commemorate the enactment of the 19th Amendment into law in 1920. This amendment officially granted women in the United States (U.S.) the right to vote. Today, the American people continue to push for greater equality. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws related to sex discrimination serve as guardrails against inequity in the workplace. For more information, please review the Protected Characteristics - Sex discrimination page on Apprenticeship.gov and the newly published EEO Sex Discrimination fact sheet.

Women throughout the U.S. continue to persevere and make strides within the national Registered Apprenticeship (RA) system and within nontraditional occupations. We invite you to explore the resources below, which provide a glimpse into the impact women are making as apprentices in organizations who strive for inclusion and gender equality within the RA framework. In addition, visit the Women in Apprenticeship page on Apprenticeship.gov to read about how apprenticeship is advancing opportunities for women.

Additional Resources:

• Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) Grant Program
• Jobs for the Future (JFF): How Apprenticeship Programs in Construction Trades Can Establish Family-Friendly Policies
• Chicago Women in Trades: Women’s Committees- A Key To Recruiting and Retaining Women Apprentices

At the age of nine, Emerson Iaquinto fell in love with computers. By the time she turned 12, she was serving as her family’s personal IT expert. Even though she was completely enthralled by the power of computing, she had not fully considered it as a potential career. This changed once Iaquinto matriculated into the Governor’s Science, Technology, Education, and Mathematics (STEM) Academy at Landstown High School in Virginia Beach. 

The STEM Academy gave Iaquinto the opportunity to teach software engineering concepts to other high school students. This helped her develop an early mastery of the craft and cemented her love for programming. By the time she was accepted to Virginia Tech, Iaquinto knew that her life’s work would be in the IT industry.

During her Senior year, Iaquinto began work as the sole System Administrator for a law firm. It was a challenging role that required hours of system oversight, dedicated project management, and many sleepless nights. These hurdles didn’t stop Iaquinto from striving for excellence. By the end of her tenure, she designed and developed a major in-house software system with a 15-year life cycle. Then unexpectedly, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Virginia Tech to transition to online learning. After some time, Iaquinto felt like her technical knowledge outpaced her coursework. This inspired her to drastically change her trajectory.

Iaquinto moved halfway across the country to Texas where she joined a RA program and became a software engineer apprentice for an organization called Smoothstack. The organization provides IT services to Fortune 500 companies and government agencies and the organization creates “net-new” talent through its hire-train-deploy approach. Its experienced team provides services in Application Development, Cloud, Digital Platforms, Data Engineering and Artificial Intelligence, and Cybersecurity. For Iaquinto, hands-on, practical training mixed with related targeted instruction seemed more promising than the traditional path. The move enabled her to fully immerse herself in software development and refine her skills.

Iaquinto expects to complete the program by September of this year, describing the process as “absolutely amazing.” She feels like an entirely new professional, and she now describes twists and turns in her tech journey as simply “necessary.” She looks forward to finishing her RA program and aspires to a leadership position within the IT industry.

New Success Stories are published periodically in the Resource Hub on Apprenticeship.gov.

• ECEPTS will be working on developing an Infant/Toddler Teacher Apprenticeship and standards with a partner in Los Angeles. There are currently no apprentice occupations that meet the needs of ECEPTS' employer partners, so ECEPTS will be leading the initiative to establish standards and a program specific to Infant and Toddler Teachers.

• VMA is using an industry prospect database to build targeted campaigns for potential program development partners. Sourced data includes segmentation details such as company size, contact job function, and business classification codes, among many other data points, and are vital for improving outreach efficiency and targeting strategies.  

• Appteon has begun a project to identify apprenticeship tracking software solutions and is developing an Appteon Apprenticeship Tips resource to help sponsors quickly compare options for tracking and learning management systems to manage their RA programs.

If you wish to highlight your innovative practices on this list, please reach out to us directly at RAIntermediaryHelp@dol.gov.

• Apprentice Population in Tennessee Sees Rapid Rise (TN)
• Indiana Receives More than $1.2M in Federal Grant to Expand RA (IN)
• Intel Launches First U.S. Apprenticeship Program for Manufacturing Facility Technicians (AZ)
• Western Kentucky University (WKU) College of Education and Behavioral Sciences Awarded $1.3M for Principal Apprenticeship Program (KY)

Department of Labor (DOL) News Release: 

• Biden-Harris Administration Awards Over $244M to Modernize, Diversify, Expand RA in Growing Industries: This is the largest combined federal investment in RA, as it continues to reflect the Investing in America Agenda of the Biden administration. A portion of the funds will go to expand the use of RA in high demand fields such as: clean energy, IT, advanced manufacturing, and K-12 education. Another segment of funds will be awarded to nine states through the second round of the State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula grants. 

WorkforceGPS Resource:

• Aligning RA and Workforce Development and Education Systems: This page has been newly updated to highlight promising practices for aligning RA systems with state workforce and educational system needs, while also providing simplified access to the full menu of services for employers and job seekers. 

Intermediary Resource:

• Rural Innovation- Advancing Education and Workforce Systems: In May 2024, JFF’s Lone Star STEM project celebrated the work being done in rural communities through a powerful webinar series. One example of rural partnership provided during the series was the California Registered Apprenticeship Forest Training (CRAFT) program and their efforts to co-design their rural RA programs with the full collaboration of multiple state industry partners and employers. 

Communications Protocol:

• Salesforce Systems Support: Send to Salesforce.support.ext@dol.gov, CC COR and OA.contracts@dol.gov
• Contract-Related Questions: Send to COR directly
• Programmatic Technical Assistance: Send to RAIntermediaryHelp@dol.gov and CC COR
• Performance-Related Questions: Send to OA.InvestmentsandData@dol.gov and CC COR

Action Items:

• Post Events and Accelerators monthly to the Salesforce Calendar
• Submit July Reports, CC OA.Contracts@dol.gov, Due: August 15, 2024

Meetings & Events:

• TA Office Hours: August 21, 2024, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST
•  IIC Monthly Call: August 15, 2024, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST
• OA Quarterly Performance Meeting: August 7, 2024, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST
• IIC 2.0 End-of-Year Presentations (OY3):
• Day 1: September 16, 2024, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EST
• Day 2: September 18, 2024, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EST

Check out upcoming Apprenticeship Events listed on Apprenticeship.gov.

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