As the nation marks National Apprenticeship Week, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Monday an initiative to expand its pre-apprenticeship opportunities for Job Corps students and connect them to registered apprenticeship programs.
The effort will allow Job Corps campuses throughout the nation, including one in Flint, to emphasize pre-apprenticeship programs in green energy, health care, information technology and other high-growth industry sectors.
“Pre-apprenticeship programs prepare students with a set of skills and strategies needed to enter and succeed in a registered apprenticeship program or industry-relevant job,” said Job Corps National Director Rachel Torres. “Through this initiative, Job Corps students will spend approximately one year in a pre-apprenticeship program. With the general education, enhanced social skills and hands-on job training they receive, these students will have more career pathways from which to choose.”
Currently, Job Corps offers more than 300 pre-apprenticeship programs in the construction, advanced manufacturing, renewable resources and energy, transportation, and automotive and machine repair industries.
There are three Job Corps campuses in Michigan: Detroit, Flint/Genesee (in Flint) and Gerald R. Ford (in Grand Rapids). They offer career skills training in high-growth industry sectors, including advanced manufacturing, construction, finance and business, health care, homeland security, hospitality, information technology, and transportation.
Flint/Genesee and Gerald R. Ford Job Corps offer pre-apprenticeship training in bricklaying, carpentry, cement masonry, painting and building construction technology.
Founded in 1964, Job Corps is the nation’s largest job training and education program. It provides students from 16 to 24 years of age with vocational training and academic experiences to increase opportunities toward gainful employment and career pathways. A mostly residential program in urban and rural areas, Job Corps centers include dormitories and a campus environment similar to small colleges.
Job Corps provides programs and services to students free of charge.
Administered by the department’s Employment and Training Administration, the Job Corps network currently has 121 centers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.