California’s regional intermediaries, such as LAUNCH, NCAN, and SCAN, offer scalable solutions for apprenticeship expansion by bridging and connecting education, industry, support service providers, government, labor, and other apprenticeship stakeholders, fostering collaboration, and reducing employer administrative burdens. Their successful models align apprenticeship programs with local needs, providing valuable blueprints for nationwide, employer-centric apprenticeship regional ecosystems.
In California, regional Registered Apprenticeship (RA) intermediaries1 are pivotal for the growing success and expansion of apprenticeship programs. A regional RA intermediary is an organizational third party that supports RA sponsor(s) in convening and facilitating the development of a geographical collaborative ecosystem of partnering stakeholders in support of designing and/or implementing the RA program.2 This report focuses on three unique regional intermediary models that are all stakeholder-facing, highlighting their crucial role in facilitating collaboration among a diverse range of stakeholders. Intermediaries can offer a range of services, including addressing high-priority employer needs, fostering employer engagement, providing sponsorship, coordinating and convening stakeholders, providing guidance on policies and requirements, and delivering programmatic support. RA Intermediaries, as we learn in this report, are the most effective when they are delivering services that meet the need of their region.
This report found that apprenticeship programs that engaged in the planning and program execution should avoid operating in isolation or competition. Rather, they should seek to leverage existing regional intermediaries to enhance coordination, share resources, and foster a unified approach to apprenticeship programs, while regions without existing regional intermediaries should seek to create one. Additionally, the regional intermediary model is a scalable and replicable model to streamline apprenticeship providers and employers within and beyond California.
This report was commissioned by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office.
Our country needs to find an effective way to help young people from low-income backgrounds prepare for careers that offer opportunities for economic advancement—and the need for successful training strategies has grown more urgent amid the ongoing pandemic.
What is Pre-Apprenticeship? Pre-apprenticeship is a program or set of services that offers participants structured training opportunities to prepare them for entry into an apprenticeship or Registered Apprenticeship program.