LVEDC Director of Talent Supply Karianne Gelinas

Each week, Karianne Gelinas, Director of Talent Supply with the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC), will provide an update and additional information about its ongoing initiative to identify talent supply and demand issues in the region and create a strategy that results in a broader, ongoing understanding of the Lehigh Valley workforce. (See past updates.)

Last week, I discussed a “quick-start toolkit” for building registered apprenticeship programs released by the U.S. Department of Labor, which includes the benefits of apprenticeships, as well as steps for how to implement them.

This toolkit highlights the fact that every partner has a critical role to play in a successful apprenticeship program, including economic development organizations like LVEDC, which can serve as a convener of businesses in the region.

Below are examples of the regional partners and the roles they play:

Business Partners

• Identify the skills and knowledge that apprentices must learn
• Hire new workers, or select current employees, to be apprentices
• Provide on-the-job training
• Identify an experienced mentor to work with apprentices
• Pay progressively higher wages as skills increase
• Can provide related instruction in-house or in partnership with others

Workforce Intermediaries

• Provide industry and/or workforce specific expertise (e.g. curriculum development) to support employers in a particular industry sector
• Can serve as sponsor of an apprenticeship program, taking responsibility for the administration of the program (thereby reducing the burden on employers)
• Aggregate demand for apprentices, particularly with small- and medium-size employers, that may not have the capacity to develop an apprenticeship program on their own
• Can be the provider of related instruction and supportive services as appropriate

Educational Institutions

• Develop curriculum for related instruction
• Deliver related instruction to apprentices
• Can provide college credit for courses successfully completed
• Aggregate demand for apprentices

Public Workforce System

• Develop sector and career pathway strategies utilizing apprenticeship
  Recruit and screen candidates to be apprentices
  Provide pre-apprenticeship and basic skills preparation
  Provide supportive services (such as tools, uniforms, equipment, or books)
  Contribute funding for on-the-job training or related instruction

State Apprenticeship System

• Provide technical assistance and support to new sponsors
• Answer questions about the apprenticeship model
• Guide the partners through the steps to develop and register a program
• Connect businesses with training providers
• Advise partners on sources of funding to support apprenticeships

Click here to read more about LVEDC’s ongoing talent supply initiative. Click here to see previous talent supply initiative updates.