California Apprenticeship Initiative

Overview

As part of the California Community Colleges ongoing efforts to meet the state’s need for an educated and skilled workforce and the Governor’s goal of serving 500,000 earn-and-learn apprenticeships by 2029, the Chancellor’s Office is pleased to announce the availability of Proposition 98 funds for the California Apprenticeship Initiative (CAI) New & Innovative Pre-Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Grant Programs (N&I). Apprenticeship is the model of the future as a mechanism to eliminate the barrier between education, training, and employment to create a seamless pathway. While the goal is to serve 500,000 apprentices, California has currently served roughly 100,000, and the state has a need to create innovative ways to scale the growth of registered apprenticeships. The CAI N&I seeks to create new and innovative apprenticeship opportunities in priority and emerging industry sectors or areas in which apprenticeship training is not fully established or does not exist. Read more about the Vision 2030 Roadmap.

In 2017, the California Community Colleges Board of Governors adopted the Vision for Success, with the main purpose of making sure students from all backgrounds succeed in reaching their goals and improving their families and communities, eliminating achievement gaps once and for all. The CAI program supports 3 of the 6 goals of the Vision, these being:

  • Reduce equity gaps across all of the above measures through faster improvements among traditionally underrepresented student groups, with the goal of cutting achievement gaps by 40 percent within 5 years and fully closing those achievement gaps within 10 years.
  • Increase by at least 20 percent the number of CCC students annually who acquire associates degrees, credentials, certificates, or specific skill sets that prepare them for an in-demand job.
  • Increase the percent of exiting CTE students who report being employed in their field of study, from the most recent statewide average of 60 percent to an improved rate of 69 percent—the average among the quintile of colleges showing the strongest performance on this measure.

Resources

California Apprenticeship Initiative New and Innovative Grant Program: FY 25–26 Notice of Intent to Award (Pending Board of Governors Approval) (PDF), April 14, 2026

Notice of Intent to Award – California Apprenticeship Initiative New and Innovative Grant Program (2024-25) (PDF), October, 3, 2024

Amended Notice of Intent to Award – California Apprenticeship Initiative New and Innovative Grant Program (Fiscal Year 2023-24) (PDF), May 9, 2024

California Apprenticeship Initiative New and Innovative Grant Program Notice of Intent to Award (Fiscal Year 2023-24) (PDF) March 7, 2024

California Apprenticeship Initiative New and Innovative Grant Program Notice of Intent to Award (PDF) March 10, 2023

Request for Application – California Apprenticeship Initiative New and Innovative Grant Program (PDF) October 14, 2022

Formal Notification of Intent to Award for FY21-22 California Apprenticeship Initiative (CAI): New & Innovative (PDF) March 2022 Submission, June 24, 2022

Request for Applications – California Apprenticeship Initiative: New and Innovative Apprenticeship and Pre-Apprenticeship Grant Program (PDF) April 2022 Submission, March 16, 2022

Formal Notification of Intent to Award for California Apprenticeship Initiative 2021 -2022 CAI: New & Innovative (PDF) December 2021 Submission, February 28, 2022

California Apprenticeship Initiative (CAI): FY 21-22 New & Innovative Grant Funding(PDF) November 5, 2021

The goal of the CAI N&I Grants Program Fiscal Year 2022-23 Applications is to create new and innovative apprenticeship opportunities in priority and emerging industry sectors or areas in which apprenticeship training is not fully established or does not exist. Programs should tap into CAI funding throughout the life cycle of the program and use the different grant purposes to create stackable funding: planning grants, implementation grants, and then expansion grants.

CAI grants are disbursed through several competitive application deadlines throughout the year. Each deadline draws from the same pool of funding, so deadlines are eliminated once funding for the year depletes. Grantees may invoice for an advance payment as indicated in the grant agreement and then may invoice regularly to be reimbursed for expenses after they submit fiscal reports that are certified by the district and approved by the Chancellor’s Office. Please review the current RFA for more information regarding how funding may be used.  

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  • Awarded more than $90,000,000 through 200 grants supporting apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs
  • More than 1,700 apprentices supported
  • More than 1,900 pre-apprentices supported

The following two examples of college apprenticeship programs took place during the COVID-19 pandemic and can be used as models for the CAI grant applications:

Inland Empire Local Apprenticeships Uniting a Network of Colleges and High Schools (LAUNCH) Program

The LAUNCH Apprenticeship Network works through the Inland Empire / Desert Regional Consortium and apprenticeship program plans have been underway since March to launch three new programs in Automotive, Healthcare and IT. In addition to classes going virtual, administrators of the programs developed a streamlined process to activate Industry Committees through virtual meetings and to register new programs with the Division of Apprenticeship Standards. Apprentice candidates and participating businesses are conducting virtual interviews and they are launching a new program Electro Mechanical apprenticeship program in partnership with Target Corporation this Fall. This particular program, hosted out of Norco College, will take apprentices from $23 per hour to $40 per hour as they proceed through the apprenticeship. 

Occupations: CNC Operators and Programmers, Production Technicians, Drafting and Engineering Technologists, Industrial Maintenance, Electro-Mechanical Technologists and Conventional Machine Operators

Industrial Mechanic and Maintenance Electrician Apprenticeship Program

The industrial Mechanic and Maintenance Electrician Apprenticeship Program at Chaffey College in partnership with the Inland/Desert Employers Apprenticeship Committee (IDEA) and Victory Valley College registered 97 apprentices 42 more than it initially anticipated. The program demonstrates the importance of working with intermediary partners to connect to additional employers. At the start of the grant award, Chaffey had 5 employer partners. Through its networking, Chaffey was able to grow that pool to more than 30 employers.

California Apprenticeship Initiative (CAI) Bidders’ Conference December 01,2025 Recording 

CAI NOVA Fiscal Reporting (July 2023) Recording

Contacts

For questions or inquiries, email Apprenticeship@cccco.edu.

NAME

TITLE

PHONE NUMBER

Gary Adams

Dean

916.322.7079
GAdams@CCCCO.edu

Sabrina Lopez

Apprenticeship Program Specialist

916.323.1268
SLopez@CCCCO.edu

Dalbir Singh

Apprenticeship Program Assistant

916.323.5863
DSingh@CCCCO.edu

Krista Duffy

Apprenticeship Program Assistant

916.327.5884
KDuffy@CCCCO.edu

Division RFAs

View all Requests for Applications.

Virtual Office Hours

The Workforce & Economic Development Apprenticeship Team offers virtual office hours to assist with grant questions or issues. Stop by with your questions or just pop in to say hello! Hours are open, so feel free to join and stay only as long as needed.

Office Hours:
2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month between the hours of 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm.

Meeting ID: 837 5257 7222

JOIN THE ZOOM MEETING