HYANNIS – Governor Charlie Baker recently announced a $4 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to expand Massachusetts’ apprenticeship programs.
The emphasis will be on providing working mothers, people of color, and disabled individuals with training and job opportunities.
Baker also highlighted the Administration’s $240 million proposal to provide additional funding to apprenticeships and other job training programs as part of the 2.9 billion plan to invest a portion of Massachusetts’ federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act into urgent priorities.
“Our Administration has long seen the value of apprenticeships, launching a program several years ago to expand this model in the technology space” said Baker. ”
“This new federal grant is an affirmation of Massachusetts’ approach to promoting access to these training and employment opportunities.”
The announcement came as Baker and Workforce Development Secretary Rosalin Acosta made a visit to Cengage headquarters to highlight the company’s successful apprenticeship programs in partnership with Apprenti.
Cengage is a global education and technology company based in Boston.
Apprenti provides paid on-the-job training and education for placement in high skill occupations in the tech industry.
The program aims to connect individuals to apprenticeship opportunities in high demand fields such as health care, lean energy, IT and advanced manufacturing.
A recently published Future of Work Report from the Administration identified those fields as areas of growth over the next decade, with over 300,000 workers potentially needing to transition to different occupations as a result of changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor will enable partners like Apprenti and Cengage to access additional training funds for apprenticeship programs in the tech sector,” said Acosta.
“The Administration’s proposal of a $240 million workforce investment will help 52,000 unemployed and underemployed workers through our existing programs,” said Acosta, “which will provide real and lasting consequences in creating a more equitable and resilient economy.”
The announcement comes with federal enhanced unemployment benefits set to expire the week of September 4.
The administration also promoted a statewide virtual Job Fair scheduled for August 16-20.
By, Matthew Tomlinson, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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