Youth Apprenticeship in Action: Principles in Practice

Youth apprenticeship is a proven strategy for connecting the learning needs of students and the talent needs of employers. However, it can often be difficult to succinctly explain how apprenticeship “works”—especially to students, families, educators, and employers who are unfamiliar with this training model.

This brief provides overviews of three youth apprenticeships:

• The production technician program offered by the Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee in the state of Washington
• The industrial mechanic apprenticeship offered by the Charleston Regional Youth Apprenticeship program at Trident Technical College in South Carolina
• The early childhood educator program offered by Early Care & Education Pathways to Success in California

The Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee (AJAC) is an intermediary organization whose mission is to help build the state of Washington’s aerospace and advanced manufacturing workforce through Registered Apprenticeship. It has two Youth Registered Apprenticeship programs.

The graphic above offers a schematic depiction of the type of journey AJAC students may experience and illustrates the supports they receive along the way.

All of the overviews in the full report include similar images that depict how the components of youth apprenticeship fit together in a particular program and illustrate how the providers have used the guiding principles of the Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship to ensure that they offer effective, high-quality experiences for the participants.

This tool was funded by the Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship. JFF is proud to be a national PAYA partner.