Over the last few years, Colorado has taken major steps to ensure that every student in Colorado graduates with the skills and credentials they need to be postsecondary and workforce-ready. However, existing gaps remain between providing all students with meaningful opportunities to engage in work-based learning opportunities while in school. Youth-based apprenticeships that expose students to soft skills and on-the-job learning can result in an industry-recognized credential and job readiness upon graduation. Today, there remain two available jobs for every Coloradoan, highlighting the importance of investing in new training pathways that can help Coloradoans build skills that will lead to good-paying jobs.
Youth-based apprenticeships serve as an innovative model to further strengthen our workforce pipeline as the state of Colorado continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on students, families, and industry. However, as of March 2023, only .02% of the apprentices in Colorado are under 18. That means high school students are severely underrepresented in a workforce development model with proven positive outcomes. This grant is designed to support the expansion of youth-based apprenticeship models for high school students across the state in order to scale this earn-and-learn model, particularly for the student populations with limited access to work-based learning opportunities.
The Colorado Office of Governor will accept applications for grants for up to $550,000 from the Response, Innovation, and Student Equity (RISE) Education fund, sponsored through the federal reverted Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Funds, to build, expand, or scale evidence-based youth-based apprenticeship models across the state. Applicants can pursue awards between $150,000 and $300,000, depending on the size of the applicant, number of youth served, and quality of the application.
