California Apprenticeship Initiative (CAI) New and Innovative Grant Program

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.

Program Outcomes and Alignment to Vision for Success Goals

CAI N&I-funded grants will be expected to achieve outcomes as described below:

Planning Grant

• Obtain DAS registration for one or multiple apprenticeship or pre-apprenticeship programs.
• For Apprenticeship Program: Obtain Employer MOUs that guarantee hiring a specific number of apprentices and that identify apprentice and journeyman wages.

Implementation Grant

• At least one apprentice is registered for every $15,000 awarded or one preapprentice for every $2,500 awarded.
• At least 80% of participants will complete apprenticeship programs, and at least 80% of participants in pre-apprenticeship programs will transition to an apprenticeship program.
• Participants who complete apprenticeship programs receive living wages as compared to local cost of living.
• A five-year plan, starting at the culmination of the grant, which demonstrates the program’s long-term sustainability.
• An active system to provide—or direct participants to—accessible, comprehensive, academic, and nonacademic student support services (including, but not limited to, job readiness coaching and career guidance, case management, success coaching, and financial aid) which should remove barriers to entry and completion for any program participants.

Expansion Grant

• The program can register at least one additional apprentice annually, beyond what it was previously capable to register, for every $15,000 awarded.
• A five-year plan, starting the year after the culmination of the Apprenticeship Program Expansion Grant, which demonstrates the program’s long-term sustainability.
• An active system to provide—or direct participants to—accessible, comprehensive, academic, and nonacademic student support services (including, but not limited to, job readiness coaching and career guidance, case management, success coaching, and financial aid) which should remove barriers to entry and completion for any program participants.

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:

• 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.
• 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.

Sectors Awarded 2023 CAI Funding Across Regions

Contacts

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