$4.5 mil Workforce Development Grant accelerates success, growth of Apprenticeship Program

For eight years, our SEIU Local 1000 Apprenticeship Program has been an exemplar of our Union’s principle of career development and upward mobility. A new, $4.5 million grant award will propel this groundbreaking program to a higher level of service.

The “High Road to Correctional Health Professions” grant award will expand the impact of our LVN-to-RN apprenticeships dramatically, offering new career training opportunities for as many as 500 participants in the current and soon-to-be developed curriculum.

The scope of this grant is huge: Local 1000’s prior grant awards have been in the half-million-dollar range.  This increase in funding is substantial and expands the reach of the program into the Bakersfield area, along with new educational and community partners. We’ll develop new RN training for high-priority skills upgrades, telehealth, and, potentially, an RN residency program to aid in skills application and worker retention.

Workforce development, and worker development, is a priority for Local 1000. Our Apprenticeship Program has grown to ten different apprenticeships or pre-apprenticeship pathways. Already, more than 225 members have joined apprenticeships, and many are already on a new career journey. Today, 40 members are currently active in the program.

For workers looking to build on their careers in the public sector, the challenge of developing their skills can be daunting. Meeting the qualifications that ensure state workers are prepared to serve the people of California and securing promotions is sometimes a difficult task, but SEIU Local 1000’s Apprenticeship Program helps make this career growth and upward mobility possible.

Traditionally, the term “apprenticeship” has applied to trade jobs, like carpenters or sheet metal workers. Local 1000 has created ground-breaking apprenticeships in non-traditional industries like health care, financial services, and information technology and is currently working to expand into other areas.

Apprenticeships couple on-the-job training with related study and instruction in order to increase workers’ skills and make them more competitive in the job market. Apprenticeships allow workers to continue to receive their full pay while training for new careers which helps avoid financial barriers that would otherwise prevent them from attaining education and new skills.

You can read more about opportunities offered by the Local 1000 Apprenticeship Program here.