Meghan McBride: --and welcome to our session. Thank you for joining us again today. We're excited to have you here for this webinar, building a pre-apprenticeship success, best practices and insights from the field. And this webinar is the second in our three-part series on understanding building and delivering pre-apprenticeships. So today we're going to build on what we learned on Tuesday when we defined the basic elements of pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs by discussing strategies for how you can build pre-apprenticeship programs.

But before we get started, we want to thank our Chancellor's Office, Cape team, Gary Adams, Mayra Diaz, and Cora Rainey, as well as our friends at CDE, Carolyn Zachry, Diana Bautista, and Neil Kelly, who support this type of work to ensure that we deliver quality adult education in California. We'd also like to welcome and thank Chancellor's Office apprenticeship Program Lead, Sabrina Aguilar, for joining us today and supporting apprenticeships throughout the state.

So as we're going through the presentation, keep an eye on the chat and the Q&A where Mayra and Sabrina and others, Debi, may be adding resources to support what John is sharing or to answer your questions. We'd also like to thank Holly and the SCOE TAP team for the support they provide to us and to all of you in the field.

Before I turn it over to John, I'd like to introduce our team of presenters. We are from WestEd where we provide professional development and technical assistance to CAEP programs. I'm Megan McBride, senior program manager for adult education. And I'm joined by my colleagues, John Brauer, Senior Program Manager for workforce and economic development, and Debi Pezzuto, Senior Program Associate. John will introduce our panelist, Casey, later.

Throughout today's presentation, Debi will be monitoring the Q&A. So please feel free to drop your questions there. Some of them will go live with and let John answer. And others, as I mentioned, Debi or Mayra will be answering, or Sabrina. So use the Q&A for your questions. It's a little easier for us to manage that there. So we hope to keep the conversation interactive doing that.

And without further ado, leading our pre-apprenticeship webinar series is John Brauer. As I shared with you all Tuesday, John has over a decade of experience in delivering pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs across various sectors and regions in California. Prior to joining WestEd, he spent 11 years as the workforce and economic development director at the California Labor Federation, and he also served 11 years on the California Workforce Board. So we are excited to bring you John's invaluable and extensive experience. So take it away, John.

John Brauer: Thank you. And good afternoon or good morning, everybody. Glad to be here. I got to give a caveat, which is I'm a little bit under the weather. So you may hear me cough occasionally this morning, unfortunately, and sipping some water. But I will try and be clear and lucid throughout this conversation that we're about to have here. So I'm excited.

Last webinar, we walked through the basic differences and mechanics of a registered apprenticeship, formal pre-apprenticeship as it relates to California, and the difference in terms of DAs and DOL registration, and then finally, informal apprenticeship or job-readiness programs. And so today, I wanted to dive in a little bit more on what might be the real aspects of pre-apprenticeship and job-readiness that you need to think about, both from a learner-- potential worker standpoint, as well as from meeting industry demand.

And as part of that, I've invited a colleague of mine, Casey Gallagher, from the Machinist Institute, to give you some industry perspective on some of this. Casey has a lot of experience, having worked with a number of you similar stakeholders too in creating job readiness, pre-apprenticeship, and apprenticeship programs around the state. And then lastly, I'm going to finish up with a link to some really good resources, in addition to what Sabrina Aguilar and the state chancellor may share with you today.

And so just a quick recap, formal pre-apprenticeship is the same thing or equivalent to an apprenticeship-readiness program. That it's created in partnership with industry to prepare young folks and adults to enter and succeed into registered programs, apprentice programs. That is slightly different than the idea of job-readiness or informal pre-apprentice programs, which I think some of you may be interested in starting anyway, which is a training designed to increase or upgrade specific academic, cognitive, or physical skill requirements as prerequisites for entry into a specific trade or occupation.

They can vary quite a bit in terms of their length and scope, and they may include things around basic skills and other things that I'll talk about shortly. One of the pieces, though, that I wanted to emphasize today is even in designing a job-readiness program, industry inclusion and design and delivery is a best practice. And so even though you may not be starting out with a formal pre-apprentice program, really worthwhile to include industry on the front end of that.

And the reason for that is that in the world of workforce development, we operate in a dual-customer model. So it's, you're linking industry man for skilled workers through the creation of the career pathway programs and training programs that you all create and deliver often, and then as an interplay in a sector strategy that helps to identify industry requirements and create those linkages to industry in general.

So having said that, I think, again, a point to emphasize is both Rome and pre-apprenticeship pathways were not created in a day. And I think historically, I think, based on my experience and Casey's, I suspect you would-- sometimes it may be worth it just to start at the very beginning, which is to build and design a job-readiness program that eventually becomes a formal, registered pre-apprentice program or an apprenticeship-readiness program, and then has that ultimate link to an apprenticeship program in some significant way.

So I don't think you should think of these as entirely separate, but maybe one leading into the creation of the other as you figure out the aspects of this and what all it's going to take in terms of resources and partnership and so forth. Again, the real goal for all of you in this equation and what you are really good at is that career pathway piece. Designing opportunities around integrated education and training. Figuring out pieces relative to non-credit to credit.

Stackable education and training options. Figuring out how to contextualize learning and providing work-based learning opportunities and competency models. Sometimes helping to build out or think about career ladders and lattices relative to careers. Helping to provide supportive services. Often offering industry-valued degrees, certificate credentials in this equation. And my ultimate definition of industry valued is, how willing is industry to hire somebody with those certificates and degrees? And we can talk more about that. And even apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship opportunities.

The other side of it is from the industry perspective, is they are often engaged in some rigorous analysis of labor market data. They have a really good idea of what the skill sets requirements are for occupations within their industry, or at an employer. They know the natural progression of jobs within that industry. They can verify, through either OJT, in an apprentice program or in other ways, competency models for workers and learners in the industry.

They can provide work-based learning options. And they, in addition, often have industry-credential requirements that they can articulate forward and backward, and they can help set statewide and national skills standards that are industry standards. Going back to job-readiness programs, your-- in creating these, some areas that you all obviously think about right now in relationship to learners and workers is the identification of some really basic elements in this equation.

So obviously, helping students and learners access basic needs. These days, it may be transportation. It may be equipment and book assistance. It may be childcare care assistance, help with tuition, financial aid, maybe housing even. I know in some districts, it's also even things like food and other pieces of the puzzle. You obviously, again, have innovative learning options, teaching this in different ways to different learners, whether that's integrated education and training or English language learners and methods, adult learning theory, all of that.

Providing technology support. Increasingly, technology has, for the last couple of decades, really played a role where some folks, they may not have had access to digital literacy and other technological support, let alone the equipment and technology used in particular occupations. In professional development, I think of that in a lot of ways as the soft skills piece of this equation. And a really important piece, particularly in a job-readiness program, for folks to learn and try out professional development soft skills in the workplace, as well as learning, obviously, an introduction to new skills in general.

The other piece that I want to really emphasize, and I think it's why we're all here, is the notion of providing this education and training in job-readiness and pre-apprentice programs, is basically to build the self-efficacy of your learners in this equation. That their individual belief and their capacity to act in ways necessary to reach specific goals. And in this particular instance, it's to get employment and have a career and progress through-- get access to and succeed in a particular industry or sector or set of occupations is really what this is about.

And it's how Casey and I have historically viewed this work, and I think that you all do too. But just a reminder that that's why this is so important around it. And again, I'll go back to the linking of this with the industry side of this piece of equation. So again, I just wanted to reference that professional development side.

These are some of the areas-- as you're designing a job-readiness program, thinking about ways either because of industry demand or because of who your population is and who they may want to engage around, is contextualizing and incorporating these kinds of things into your actual job-readiness program. And things like teamwork, learning how to read blueprints or negotiate or problem solve are a number of those kinds of things. Debi, did you've got some questions already for us?

Debi Pezzuto: Yeah. Great question about CTE. So someone asked from a K-12 perspective, would job readiness be considered CTE classes?

John Brauer: Yes, I think that it's a way to put yourself in there. I was part of advising for the California partnership academies and some of the link learning, and those had folks from the industry where you're introducing folks to the industry. So career awareness and career services as a starting point and learning some of these basic skills in relationship to the industry and the workplace are definitely incorporated within CTE or should be incorporated into CTE.

Debi Pezzuto: Great. That was the only question we had for now.

John Brauer: OK. [laughs] And again, I'm just-- going back to that piece of linking the pathways, and then there's industry requirements. And so I wanted-- where we're going to go is, I wanted to have a conversation with Casey Gallagher from the Machinist institute. And then on top of that conversation, finished with some activities that I think you need to be doing around industry engagement in general in particular.

And Casey, thank you for joining us today. Casey is the regional director for the Machinist Institute. And I've known Casey for a better part of a decade or more when he was at the machinist district 190, and then I had the pleasure of hiring him when I worked at the California Labor Federation.

And Casey, before I even met him, and subsequent to when we both left the Federation, has worked in development and design of both registered apprenticeship programs, hybrid training partnerships, pre-apprentice programs, job-readiness programs, a number of pipeline and pathway pieces. And so I asked Casey to come today and basically share with us, from an industry perspective, and in this case, it's both employers and labor, their thinking around job readiness and pre-apprenticeship in particular. And apprenticeship, but particularly job readiness and pre-apprenticeship.

So, Casey, do you want to just elaborate a little bit on your role over the years in creating job-readiness and pre-apprentice programs and apprenticeship programs maybe for folks so they have an idea of what sectors you've been involved in, who are some of the educational partners that you've engaged, the kinds of educational partners, kinds of community partners.

Casey Gallagher: Yeah, of course. Yeah. Thank you, John. And always a pleasure to speak with you all and talk about something I truly love and dear to my heart. And due to the mission of, we do better when we all do better. So how can we really, truly lift up our communities and use all the public resources that are available to really advance community economic development from the grassroots level?

I'd also like to thank Cape and also WestEd for inviting me to this conversation. I can have this conversation every single day if people just call me up. I'll put my contact information in the chat soon, so feel free to bug me. I'm here to build things in California. Also, I'm happy to see a whole bunch of friends and familiar faces, names pop up in the chat. So fabulous.

So I think over the past-- geez. Over the past decade, I guess, I've been building apprenticeship programs, pathway pieces, pre-apprenticeship programs a lot within the-- originally with the Machinist Union. Where I originally met John was within automotive and industrial trades, manufacturing, machining, industrial maintenance, everything that falls into that. And then when working for the labor federation, I was working heavily within anyone who's looking to build a good pathway that actually has equity in actual routes.

My philosophy on all this is, it takes us all to build something proper for our community members. We all can't do this alone. Now, as the California director for the Machinist Institute, I'm building out pathways, apprenticeship programs, both DOL, DAS, and also job-readiness programs for folks to explore careers and pathways within either machine manufacturing, advanced transportation, zero emission transportation, repair, maintenance, and everything that falls in between. I'm not sure if I answered your question, John, but hopefully, we can jump off a conversation on this.

John Brauer: Well, is there anything else you wanted to share about the Machinist institute, its origins and history?

Casey Gallagher: Oh, yeah, of course. So Machinist Institute is the nonprofit arm of the-- I put the website in the chat so everyone can check us out. We're the nonprofit arm of the Machinist Union started by District 751 up in Seattle. This is created as a need for, how do we grow opportunities for not just current members, but future members. But also, how do we lift the industry as a union to the aspect of, how do we actually develop a portable skill set across manufacturing, across industrial maintenance, or even automotive and heavy duty truck repair?

To actually really provide that opportunity, as John's mentioning, the self-efficacy of like, how do we give people the tools and the freedom to actually go into a career that they're passionate about and be able to not just provide upward mobility for them, but also mobility to actually take these portable certificates, industry-recognized certificates anywhere where they please.

So I always think about when I see like a one-plant program, how does that really succeed when years of dealing with layoff aversion and plants closing and deindustrialization and everything else that we need to put the tools in the hands of the worker and also the community in case something does go away. How do people actually be able to take care of themselves, their families, and the communities?

John Brauer: Great? Can you talk about who the Machinist partners are and have been in this-- both in terms of what kinds of educational partners and community partners and--

Casey Gallagher: Oh, yeah.

John Brauer: --are they big or small and just for folks to understand?

Casey Gallagher: Yeah. So up in the Pacific Northwest, we work heavily with Boeing. And one of the things that we do prepare folks for was called greenlight program. The greenlight program is something that upskills incumbent workers to be able to reach that next step within the collective bargaining agreement, or that next step to be able to be greenlit to move into another classification.

In addition, here in California or across the West Coast, we work heavily with, say, for example, SSA, which is the terminal operator who is the maintenance of-- we work on the maintenance of port equipment. As things are further and further automated, we're going to be the ones repairing a lot of this. And so we always have to keep on upskilling workers, but also preparing-- as people retire, how do we actually prepare them to come into these types of trades?

Because everyone's always talking about automation, the robots, AI, and everything else. Someone's going to have to fix that. And I think that's-- when we talk about apprenticeship, we're talking about job readiness, we're talking about all these things-- I always think about, how do we set up people to be-- a lot of times, they say, oh, you gotta stay competitive. But also, at the same time, it's like, how do you also set people up to succeed? And I think that's the thing.

Is like, when we're thinking about training, we're thinking about careers of the future. We're thinking about zero emissions technology, equipment, what have you. How do we really set up community members to succeed? And I think that's a great role that adult schools and the county boards of education can really play in this to really focus on, what do we got to do to focus on job readiness, and also-- but also give people understanding about the careers that exist out there.

John Brauer: To that end, Casey, thinking about zero-emission vehicles, just so folks on the webinar-- can you describe the areas that the machinists are involved in and your employers in zero-emission vehicles? Because it's not just the cars of which you--

Casey Gallagher: Oh, yeah.

John Brauer: --the apprenticeship coordinator, but so that folks understand that and just the mandate that exists within California and why that may drive occupational demand down the road, if you will.

Casey Gallagher: Oh, seriously, not a problem. Like, how deep you want me to go? I can talk for hours on this.

John Brauer: Not super deep.

Casey Gallagher: OK. I'll give the quick elevator spiel in case the elevator gets stopped on the second floor. OK. So dig this. So we're focusing on the idea of like-- so I think the thing is like understanding for the last-- especially here in the Bay Area when I was working as an apprenticeship coordinator, a majority of my apprentices were either in the auto dealerships, heavy duty truck, or a goods movement in some kind of fashion.

That technology has changed and rapidly changed over the years. The understanding that the career of a mechanic for case in point is like, if you're a one time-- OK. I don't even know how to work in carburetors. I don't know how to work on fuel injection. Fuel injection took the way of collaboration and everything else. Then came computers. Then came changed the fuel cells, fuel technology, and everything else. Someone has to keep on keeping these pieces of equipment moving.

That's just not your zero-emission like your Prius or your Tesla or what have you. That's also the type of equipment that is moving on, say, your UPS-- moving, say, UPS, packages. Or case in point, also electric school buses and everything else. So that's a constant upskilling of need for workers. But as people retire, you're also going to have to teach them chassis, teach them the basic components, and then also on top of that. So it's essentially lifelong education as technologies changes. Excuse me for one second.

John Brauer: We lost him. I wonder what's up.

Casey Gallagher: Oh, no. It was-- also, like John, I'm under the weather. And so the-- I didn't want to cough on Zoom.

John Brauer: Thanks, Casey. So Casey, from a-- what do industry-- what is industry, both employers and labor, need to get out of a partnership with educational institutions, either the adult Ed or the high school or community college, in creating a job-readiness or a pre-apprentice program, or even hosting an appre-- being an LEA or a training provider for an apprentice program?

Casey Gallagher: I think definitely industry and labor and employers on what's the problem-- I don't know. John, you know me for a while. So my whole thing on any kind of bridge program you're building, apprenticeship program, pre-apprenticeship, job-readiness, really trying to suss out, what's the problem you're trying to solve on this? I look at apprenticeship, I look at workforce development, or anything-- what we're trying to build as being, OK, collective problem solving.

What's the tools that adult Ed or ROP or-- can really solve in this of either giving folks the tools to be able to get that job or case and point of like, OK, how can you really-- some things don't-- I feel weird when I say that the term traditional and nontraditional apprenticeship programs or what have you. But how can education really serve that role in, one, providing the theoretical aspect, but also really arming community members with the tools to get employed?

I think understanding that what I mentioned earlier, is like, hey, you know what, we all can't do this by ourselves. And I'm speaking from a-- like a California director. I'm speaking as a former and sometimes current apprenticeship coordinator or what have you, that we all play a role in this. And I think understanding the role that you can really assist your industry partners and community partners in really lifting folks up to get these high quality, hirable jobs. And really figuring out what's that role within that?

John Brauer: OK. And so, I mean, I think historically, one of the things I've learned, and I think you've seen and you mentioned a minute ago, and I kind of wanted to go back to it, just so folks understand. Is really, on an industry engagement, a lot of it is asking, with your job-readiness or your pre-apprentice program, what are you trying to solve? And that could be providing access to a community into particular occupations so there may be desire or interest in them diversifying their workforce.

There may be an interest in-- they've got technology challenges that they need to either reskill existing workers or upskill new workers in meeting that particular demand. It may be the fact that they're having job growth. And so Casey and I, for instance, worked with California Transit Works, which is transit agencies and transit unions around the state. And most of the transit agencies and bus coach operators and mechanics, over half of the workers at all of the transit agencies can retire yesterday. They are actually paying people to stay.

And so part of the reasoning and the big drive around the partnership, which includes places like a couple of high schools and a couple of community colleges as LEAs and even academic, is finding new workers in that industry, if you will. Casey, do you want to-- I was going to ask you if you could talk about, as an example, what you're trying to do down in Los Angeles with the Slawson Center and who those partners are and what you all are trying to create?

Casey Gallagher: Yeah. Actually, I think it's great that we have Anna Gray from LA USD. And I definitely need to follow up with her and Oscar on a handful of projects. I think the idea is like, while this is in the beginning stages on this, I think there was a great relationship of, how do we really provide-- we created a type of curriculum up in the Pacific Northwest, and I'm introducing it down here in California, is what we call the Machinist Institute Career Accelerator program, which can both serve as a job-readiness program and also a pre-apprenticeship if it suits.

And I think that's something that we're trying to explore of, how do we lift-- partner with public Ed and also adult schools, especially great facility such as the Slawson Southeast Occupational Center, which is-- I have been there in a while. It's an amazing facility. Is trying to figure out, how do we now create this pathway into all these different industrial trades?

Because as you mentioned, John, and I really appreciate this. In the beginning, I was like-- figuring out I was like, OK, there's pre-apprenticeship angle you can do on this, but there's also a job-readiness angle. And understanding what's the needs of industry. And I think one of the things too is thinking about, how does someone get into an industry? And that's always the question I always ask when building a program.

I wish within the trades and industries and sectors I operate in, it was a dispatch model where it's like, oh, cool. You know what, I'm going to train 30 people and I can send them to all these shops and easy peasy. However, if you're talking about building an apprenticeship program, pre-apprenticeship program, job readiness, or what have you, it's understanding, how does the industry operate, and how does it-- if there are established apprenticeship programs within this, how do people actually get in?

Case and point, within, say, the Machinist trades or the industrial maintenance or industrial repair, what have you, it often takes an employer to hire someone before they get into an apprenticeship program. So that's always the sticking point. But also, I think that's the key thing of like, that's what job readiness really kind of comes in handy with this. Is like, oh, is it a problem that they can't find apprentices or they can't find people to hire?

And I think-- I wish it was more institutionally and culturally accepted within the industrial crafts that apprenticeship is the way to go. But oftentimes, we're still trying to get manufacturers, employers to really buy into-- as you mentioned, hey, you talk to folks at the public-- in the public transit yards or you go to city and county of San Francisco. The average age of folks-- the machinists there are 59 years old. And they're one bad morning away from putting in their retirement papers.

So it's like, hey, look, we're about to lose all this knowledge and institutional memory, but also, just how do you actually, again, train the future-- really look at the resource that exists before these people leave to really build onto that. That all being said, I think the case and point is like, how do you create a true career exploration program that lands people into jobs? And I think that's what we're trying to do.

Like what were talking about yesterday, John, it was thinking about, I'm not trying to track folks into one career. Our curriculum is based on the idea of doing those shop tours. Exposing to other types of careers within this. And if at the end of our 12-week course or a boot camp that we run or whatever the needs are in a certain geographical region, that if someone wants to become electrician at the end of that, I'm going to connect you to one of my brothers and sisters with IBEW. Or like, how do I connect you with another opportunity?

My idea of success is, hey, you know what, I exposed you and open up this door to know about these types of careers. And you getting a good union pay-- a union job or get into a union apprenticeship program where you find your passion or your excitement, sign me up. How do I how can I help you?

John Brauer: [laughs] Good deal. Now, Casey, you're an exception, not the rule in terms of this, but how do you think-- oh, I've got-- you said somebody's got a question. I'll pause for a second, Debi. Go ahead. For Casey. You're--

Debi Pezzuto: Oh, I didn't mean--

Casey Gallagher: OK.

Debi Pezzuto: I didn't mean to cut you off, John, but someone did have a good question.

John Brauer: Go ahead.

Debi Pezzuto: Someone is asking, for example, are careers involving new technologies such as 3D printing included in the larger umbrella of machinists and is there a career pathway for individuals with those highly refined technical skills?

Casey Gallagher: Yeah. It depends on where you're going on this. Case and point, you see it sometimes in some R&D facilities. At our Training Center in South Washington, we have a handful of different 3D printers that explore about, there are some career opportunities within, say, Lockheed and some of the larger manufacturers for prototypes and R&D that you're definitely going to see in this.

But I think it's also-- they often call it additive manufacturing. There are opportunities within it, but I think it's also talking to who's within your region. What are employers hiring for? What are they looking for? Where they see this going. Case and point, when talking to certain aerospace companies, like, oh, what we really need someone to be able to know. Is like, OK, what kind of curriculum can you provide or assist us with that assist with, hey, wire looms or building out something for the space satellite programs or what have you. So I think that's-- there is new technology-- there's definitely a need for this, and it's also the understanding for new technologies. But yeah, there is--

John Brauer: And Casey what's the interplay between an educational institution and industry in terms of creating that and designing the curriculum? Does industry tend to want to start with the institution creating those or do you-- is it better to have the industry come and engage the industry to say, these are the things that we need development around or how does-- maybe there's not one way.

Casey Gallagher: No. I think there's a couple different pathways onto this. Case and point, as always, the-- I often think about it as, figure out, what's the need-- OK. I was like, OK, double check the audience here. Cool. Because my interest always is, how do you build folks for the industry, not just a single employer, but there's always the need for one off single employer pieces? But I want to figure out where the industry is going. Where is the general theoretical piece on this? And that's why I love apprenticeships so much. And I'll go back to your question in a second. This is going somewhere.

That the idea of, well te-- what's the theoretical aspect that aligns with the practice on the job training that can happen at an employer setting? Where I often go with this is, OK-- figuring out and saying, OK, what does the employer need? But also, how do we set up the apprentice or the community member or participant for success? That it's like, OK, understanding the employer might need this, but for full success of the apprentice, going, OK, here's the new industry-recognized credentials that exist.

It's like, OK, what-- because we have subscriptions to the tooling you omtrol, all the large national accrediting bodies as well as nonprofits. It's like, OK, what can be delivered at-- what already exists at, say, a community college, adult school? But also, how can we take our curriculum that's recognized by a national body or certificate program and either introduce it into a college program, an adult school that might not already have it? Or if they already have it, how do we actually-- it's basically a puzzle. How do we fix this puzzle of-- not so much fix the puzzle, but complete the puzzle of really fulfilling those needs of-- so there's multiple different ways of doing this.

John Brauer: OK.

Casey Gallagher: Do you do all the edges or do you put the center pieces together?

John Brauer: Yeah. I think I--

Casey Gallagher: My main thing is figuring out, OK, what does the local resources have? It's like, hey, is there already a shot-- is there already a machine shop that exists that needs either people in that class or, case and point, they need updates on curriculum? We talk to some high schools. They're like, hey, we have all this equipment. We don't really have curriculum because people forgot about the machine shop on the other side of campus. How can we boost this up to lead towards folks getting jobs?

John Brauer: You got another question on pathways. But before that, I just wanted to highlight a point that Casey made that he and I have had agreement on, which is one of the beauties of apprenticeship in general, in addition to actually teaching some specific curriculum and skill sets, is oftentimes what can be missing and is needed on that career pathway piece, is the idea of teaching the theory behind the sector and the work, the practices. So in manufacturing, it could be or basic theories of production and manufacturing and that kind of thing. So that in particularly nontraditional sectors, it's missing. So Debi, do you want to ask other question? Go ahead.

Debi Pezzuto: Yeah. Joanna has a question. Can you give more details on what activities you do to introduce the various career pathways during the pre-apprenticeship program?

Casey Gallagher: Oh, yeah. Of course. So one of the things that-- it's all about hands on. Because I can talk to folks about-- do the whole job speech, come in-- I've done this a handful of times. So our friends in the MC3 programs, the construction trades programs, like, oh, come talk about other things, but it's not until someone really see something, like, case in point.

And some of our programs that we've done is intro to electronics. So we've had high school kids or participants build a Bluetooth speaker. How do you also take apart a one stroke motor or what have you, a single cylinder motor, or an engine, pardon me? Or how do you actually go-- here's all the basic principles you may be learning around, like, say 3D printing or mills, lathes, and really giving them hands on--

Another great opportunity that we've done is work with, say, snap on and do, what's something that actually can be transferred within, say, machine operators, quality assurance, but also, you need within, say, industrial repair or rebuilding engines? Is like, snap on-- think about the credentials such as like a snap on precision measurement toolkit of like, hey, how can I get someone a certificate and the resume that, hey, when you're done with us, or not done with us, but when you've gone through a course, is that, hey, you know what, I want you to have a binder yea thick of actual things that employers recognize that can open the door for you in different ways. That not only how to utilize really expensive equipment, but you also-- you actually know what it does and why you use it in certain situations.

Another great thing is, it's all about hands on. It doesn't matter the age of the participant. If someone can actually get their hands on something or even realizing like, OK-- I always talk-- shop tours are great. Talking to folks who actually do the work, actually seeing folks do the work, and then just taking something apart and putting it back together is really praising and lifting up what I often refer to as that applied critical thinking skills that oftentimes is not valued within education.

That sometimes folks have been-- I won't go on my soapbox about skilled and unskilled labor, but I think it's the thing of folks recognizing that you already-- if you have this ability within you, this is a way you can really lift this up and make a solid career on this. So hopefully, that answers your question.

John Brauer: Yeah. I only have one more in relation to-- well, I've got two more. The last one is how to reach you. But what do you think it takes for industry to provide work-based learning opportunities?

Casey Gallagher: Good question.

John Brauer: Do educational institutions need to come with resources in that regard, or is industry ever able to provide those without institutions or partners coming fully resourced? What do you think it takes for them to see value and do that?

Casey Gallagher: I think there's a lot of-- I think sometimes the problem is industry-- for too long, we all haven't been talking to each other. And I wish there was-- like I was mentioning earlier, I wish there was more of a cultural balance and cultural understanding of training in a lot of these industries. And how we can all work together and we can all win without turf wars and everything else.

I think it starts with pilots. It starts with that kind of like, what can you really do? Because I think the heavy metal relationship such as-- unless it's for a direct certificate program, sometimes industry is like, OK, I'll just supply. How can we work together so we all succeed? That being said, thinking about-- unless it's like a full on certificate program that workers need at a certain plant, factory, facility, firm, whatever you want to call it, department, that sometimes employers are not going to see the value in, OK, why are we going to pay for this?

Because, if this is not going to be like, hey, we need all the workers trained up on, say-- what was it called? Case and point, thinking about the changes in zero-emissions exhaust and emissions systems connected to, say, heavy duty trucks within the Port of Oakland, or something very specific. I think it's really working with the partners you already have and figuring out, what are some additional needs are you going to fulfill?

Because I'm looking at some of the folks on this list when they're introducing themselves, and I imagine you already mentioned this before, John. Was like, if you're looking to build partnerships and really figure out how you can really grow this job readiness piece or fulfill the needs to solve some problems within the community, it's like, most of you already serve as local educational agencies to a whole bunch of apprenticeship programs.

And this is a key point of following up. It's like, hey, how can we help you grow this and help you grow other opportunities on this? Because you're already serving a critical need on this, especially with construction or any of the other programs. Really reach out to your partners and figure out, hey, what other gaps can we fix? Because apprenticeship standards, industry, technology, all these things are constantly changing.

Always look at apprenticeship standards program as living documents that will all-- we have this whole partnership with all these people-- education, government, labor, industry, employers, you name it. It's one of the only workforce development solutions that, from the get go, that investments, the conversation, the reason you're building this in the first place is setting up for the success of students and for apprentices. You want you want them all to succeed, and that's the whole point of the investment. I'm not sure if we're really answering your question, but I can put my soapbox back up and keep on talking about this if you want.

John Brauer: Well, Casey, I think that's-- thanks for joining me today in the conversation. I want to make sure that your email is up here and folks should feel comfortable to reach out to you for partnership with the Machinist Institute in relationship to Casey going forward. Stick around if you want to join the last little bit that we've got here, Case.

Casey Gallagher: Yeah. Of course.

John Brauer: Just some other things I wanted to touch on and then go to a resource page that I wanted folks to be aware of, if you haven't already. Which is in that initial discussion, and some of which Casey and I talked about today, is starting with just becoming aware of existing apprentice programs in the region. He just made this point. That you have some folks who have that industry partnership and engaging them as one possible starting place.

In addition, there are other regional initiatives, strong workforce, California Jobs First. The local workforce boards also have strategic initiatives that you should be thinking about intersecting with in terms of industry. Understanding the goal of this is really to understand general industry demand, as well as specific occupational demand. So we talked about earlier the notion of changes in technology or the aging of the population.

It may also be that there are mandates from the state or from the country that are driving investments that will also then turn these occupations. So the whole idea around California has zero-emission goals relative to public transportation, heavy-duty trucks, and zero-emission automobiles between 2035 and 2040, that are really going to change a lot of the occupational demand and skill sets. And that's an opportunity that you should pay attention to.

And then obviously, I think you heard it a little bit from Casey in relationship to things like work-based learning and other things is just starting to understand what that return on investment for the industry partner is to participate. What do they need to get out of it? What's the problem they're trying to address? And start by trying to identify industry champions, folks like Casey and just what their general level of buy in around it.

And again, to go back to what we had on Tuesday is just starting with the occupations and the sectors. What are you then thinking about in terms of preparing your students to enter into within a particular sector or subsectors of it? Some of your early discussions should focus on the structure-- in creating partnership. Your early discussions too, maybe after some initial conversations, what might be the focus of the structure and governance of the program?

I mean, I think somebody's asking about staffing CTE and that kind of thing. But having that conversation with industry from the start is a really good way to help part of baking in their support and involvement in the equation. You've got a number of ongoing questions that folks-- what stakeholders are required to enable the partnership to proactively address local industry workforce needs? What are the elements of the program that stakeholders will need to include to make sure that it meets industry demand, it's worker-learner centered, and community-focused.

Asking yourself, is the program meeting labor market needs for occupations in the region or is it increasing access and equity relative to that? Are there specific industry needs that you wish to meet through the creation of the program, such as greater access for particular communities of learners and workers in that. And does the community have similar or other interests from those stated above? Something different from industry and education, but that they are also really involved in.

And I won't go through all of these, but just how will the program be evaluated? And success gets defined. And every stakeholder may have a different level of definition of success, but you should know what each entity is thinking about. I was told there's a question around staffing and CTE. I just did want to-- part of figuring this out for yourselves is somebody needs to play that intermediary role in terms of convening and coordination and administration.

On one side, you've got the demand side of the equation that includes apprentice programs, employers, labor. It can also be an added value in terms of public agencies and your local workforce boards and California Job First. And then on the other end is-- the role that you can either play as being the convener or being part of a larger partnership.

Debi Pezzuto: And, John, that question specifically was around connecting high schools with interested individuals to teach CTE courses. I don't know if you've got some resources for that.

John Brauer: I don't specifically, that may be a more appropriate one for the chancellors and CTE to answer. I don't know if Casey, you've got insights--

Casey Gallagher: Oh, yeah.

John Brauer: If not...

Casey Gallagher: I think definitely, that's-- I work with a whole bunch of community colleges, adult schools, and everyone else under the sun within-- because we want folks to get credit. We want folks to really, really enhance the public good of the public dollars going through our programs. I think one of the amazing things that realizing, like, hey, wait, every-- when I talk to-- I know we're running out of time. I'll make this short, even though I'm not good at making things short, is the idea of, how do you-- that's where industry comes in, and industry partners.

I always feel bad to be-- everyone from education usually come approaches us or approaches other folks like, oh, how can we help you? But I like to flip it on its head. Is like, how can industry, labor, and employers really assist education? Because qualified instructors is something that's definitely gone by the wayside. And it's like, how can we work together? So talk to your industry partners.

Because as John was mentioning, it's like, my vision of workforce development and apprenticeship, especially in the industries I look at is, I look at the working lives of community members. And case and point, it's like, I already know a handful of instructors that retire out of the port in Long Beach or in LA that are now teaching automotive courses, teaching machining courses and everything else. You open that door and reach out to industry going, hey, I imagine you have some folks that are retiring that are looking to still do something.

So that's a valuable resource to think of, not just as the silver tsunami and this crisis that's going to happen by people retiring. It's like, people want to give back. And you give them a vehicle to give back, that's something that I can assist with, at least in my trades. But the thing about the industries that you work with, and I imagine you can find someone who's looking to continue handing down the torch. So--

John Brauer: OK. And so the last thing I just want to share-- I cut through a bunch of slides relative to sector initiatives. I did want to share this website with you all. The Department of Industrial Relations, which is within the California State Labor Agency, and has within it the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, has a really great website relative to funding sources, both in terms of navigating registered apprenticeship funding sources that, in turn, has links to some of the funds that DAS and the chancellor's office are administering, as well as other programs.