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LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: --to Apprenticeship, Noncredit to Credit Building Blocks & Pathway Models.

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Slides.

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I am so pleased to be able to welcome you to what has really become an important and significant topic in the state of California as we work towards the goal of 500,000 new apprenticeships by 2029, a goal that is outlined in the California Community College Vision 2030, as well as in the governor's plan for career education.

So with that, I would like to first acknowledge our immediate colleagues at the Sacramento County Office of Education. I can't see exactly who is in the room, but our colleagues Mandilee Gonzalez, Renee Collins, and Holly Clark. I would also like to recognize our CAEP state leadership, Dean Gary Adams, program lead, Mayra Diaz, and on the California Department of Education side, Dr. Carolyn Zachry as well as Diana Batista. The work we do impacts more than 600,000 students statewide and has the impact to impact more than 6.4 million, so very important work that we're doing. Next slide, please.

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Lisa Mednick Takami has light blond hair and wears a dark top.

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So we have our welcome here. If you can go ahead and put your name and your affiliation in the chat, that would be great. Next slide, please.

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Agenda.

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So here is our agenda. We'll go over a few housekeeping items, do some introductions of our guest panelists, and review our learning objectives. We have some very brief prewebinar survey data to show you. We will be looking at two significant program models, one in Northern California, one in Southern California. We will then take time for questions and discussion and some very brief closing activities. Next slide, please.

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Objectives.

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So our goals for today, one, are to introduce participants to the Department of Apprenticeship Standards, DAS, and apprenticeship components of the earn-to-learn model. We are going to be providing an overview of what preapprenticeship-to-apprenticeship pathways provide to adult learners, with the reminder that preapprenticeship is one of our CAEP activities and one that I know is really close to Dean Gary Adam's heart in terms of that 500,000 goal that I mentioned earlier.

As I said, we will be sharing systemwide models of preapprenticeship and apprenticeships, both in the Building Trades and what we call the IACA disciplines, which are all of those apprenticeships that are in areas like early childhood, cybersecurity, and many others. And finally, we will be fielding questions from you all on starting, building, and scaling preapprenticeship and apprenticeships. Next slide, please.

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Housekeeping.

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I will now hand it over to Chandni Ajanel for some housekeeping.

CHANDNI AJANEL: Hello, everyone. Just wanted to let you all know that this meeting is being recorded. The recording and the PowerPoint will be released on the Cal Adult Ed website following its remediation. And we ask that you please fill out the survey at the end. We really value your feedback, and we use it to improve all of our webinars. Next slide.

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Slide: Gracious space. A list of words and phrases.

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And then just a quick note on gracious space, a reminder to everyone to please be respectful and please-- sorry about that. I lost my train of thought for a second-- to please keep these items in mind. Just a quick note-- is everyone able to see the slides?

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: Yes, we are good on the slides.

CHANDNI AJANEL: OK, great. Thank you. That's going to be all for me. Thank you.

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: OK, thank you, Chandni. Next slide, please.

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Pre webinar survey results.

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Now I'd like to turn it over to our data technician, Diana Martinez. Many of you responded to the prewebinar survey, and here are some results. Diana.

DIANA MARTINEZ: Hi, everyone. Good morning. So as part of the registration for today's webinar, we asked a few questions of the field. So briefly, as part of the sector distribution of the respondents, 99 of them identified as a community college member. 55 identified as a K-through-12 adult school member. And then 25 registered as other, which range from being a part of the CAEP TAP team or a partner to the CAEP field.

And then regarding the familiarity with preapprenticeship-to-apprenticeship program models, we received a total of 177 responses to this. And most of the respondents identified as slightly familiar to somewhat familiar with these program models. And we'll learn more about that today. Thank you.

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: Excellent. Thank you, Diana. Next slide, please.

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Guest speakers. A row of profile pictures.

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OK, I've just taken a quick check of our participants. I don't believe our esteemed Dean Gary Adams is with us. So, Mayra Diaz, I just wanted to check to make sure Gary is not here in case I might have missed him.

OK, I'm not hearing from Myra, so with that, I am honored to welcome Chief Adele Burnes, chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards. And I'm also delighted to welcome our colleagues Marlyn Garcia, director of Adult Education at Santa Rosa Junior College; Heather Rahman, program coordinator for Career Education at College of Marin; and Jasmine Port, who is our interim dean of Career Services & Experiential Learning at Mt. San Jacinto College. And if we could get the next slide, I will hand it over to Adele.

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Guest Speaker Adele Burnes.

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ADELE BURNES: Good morning, folks. Pleasure to join you all here. So it was very helpful to see that little survey, to see the starting knowledge of folks here around apprenticeship and preapprenticeship. So what I strive to do in my time with you all is to give you a little bit of an overview of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, but really to spend most of my time diving into the definitions of an apprenticeship and a preapprenticeship, just to level you all up a step on your familiarity with what these models are. So if you go to the next slide.

So as Lisa mentioned, I am the chief at the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, and I have a whole team that supports me here at the Division of Apprenticeship Standards in assisting employers and organizations who are interested in developing a skilled workforce through the registered apprenticeship model.

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Slide.

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And we're specifically looking to support the expansion of high-quality and equitable apprenticeships across all sectors, and I will say, on that equity point, it's a pleasure to join you all here because, as Lisa said at the top of this, I think you all are serving a group of people that we really want to make sure that we're creating pathways for these folks into apprenticeships.

So I do like how our governor articulated this at the beginning of his time as our governor, which is saying, let's encourage businesses to become creators and not just consumers of talent by having this audacious goal of serving 500,000 earn-and-learn apprentices by 2029. And I'm happy to report we're about 230,000 apprentices along that journey. So we're making progress, but there's still a lot of work to do. So I'm glad you're all here and glad to be sharing my knowledge with you all. So if you go to the next slide.

So to dive into the definitions, what is a registered apprenticeship? A registered apprenticeship, first and foremost, it is a job. It's a job that is scaffolded with training. And so it is a structured education and training program that happens both in the workplace and in the classroom.

And the three major components of an apprenticeship-- the first is on-the-job training. So this is the time that somebody is working and on the job. They're, of course, in a job that is recognized to be an entry-level role. So it's expected that they're very green in that role and they're getting mentor and training on the job. Specifically, around 2,000 hours, which is the equivalent of about a year of full-time work, is the typical benchmark. Some apprenticeships are more, but that's the benchmark you can think about.

And then that work and learning on the job is complemented by related and supplemental instruction, which is our apprenticeship speak for classroom instruction. So this is 144 hours of classroom-based instruction, which works out to be about the equivalent of three lecture courses if they were in a college context, which the RSI is sometimes in a college context, but not always. There's a lot of different types of training providers out there, including, of course, adult ed.

And then the third and really, really important part of this is that this is a fully paid employee. So this person is not on a stipend. They're earning a full wage. And they need to have at least one wage step over the course of their apprenticeship. Some have multiple steps, but essentially, the wage progression demonstrates the progression of knowledge and the value, of course, of that person to that organization over the course of their apprenticeship. So these are the three main pillars of what is an apprenticeship. And if we go to the next slide.

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Diagram.

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So when you're putting together an apprenticeship, what I would encourage you to think about is always start with the employer because this is a job, first and foremost. So the employer or employers are the key initial stakeholder because to have an apprenticeship, you need to have those placements, right? You would need to have the-- the on-the-job part is essential to an apprenticeship. But of course, the other primary pillar to an apprenticeship are the educators-- the local education agency that's either overseeing or directly delivering that related and supplemental instruction.

So those are really the two key players that have to be convened to create an apprenticeship. The Division of Apprenticeship Standards, we are here to support with that and to be the entity with whom you register your program. And by registering, you get access not only to funding both from the education partners but also different types of funding, but also importantly, getting an apprenticeship credential at the end of the apprenticeship. So the apprentice who's going through this program, yes, they're getting the value of learning on the job and in the classroom, but at the end, it's actually culminating in a credential.

Now, in the middle of this, and the glue in the middle, is the apprenticeship program sponsor, which is the entity taking responsibility for running the program. And that entity could be a lot of different entities. There are examples where it is an adult ed entity. Sometimes, it's a nonprofit, a workforce board. Sometimes, it's an LEA, a union. So lots of different entities can play that role. So this is a bit of the stakeholder overview for an apprenticeship. So if we go to the next slide.

Sometimes, people equate-- so OK, there's a few different types of apprenticeship. There's a time-based model, where the progression through the apprenticeship is measured by time on the job, like 2,000 hours of on-the-job time. Or there could be a competency-based program, where progression through the apprenticeship is measured by the attainment of competencies. Or you can have a hybrid program. So this is just to give you a sense of the different program types. You go to the next slide.

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Table.

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So sometimes, people kind of equate an apprenticeship and an internship, and they really are different. And the key areas that I would call out that are different about an apprenticeship versus an internship is the length of it and the fact that an apprenticeship is always and must be fully paid. So an apprenticeship is typically, as you've seen, at least a year, sometimes longer in duration, whereas an internship is typically like 8, 10, 12 weeks.

And so I really see an internship as dipping your toe in an industry, testing it out, seeing if you like it, whereas an apprenticeship is training you for entry into that career. So it's sort of a different level of engagement for the employer, but also for the apprentice, for the educator, for all the stakeholders involved.

And I think the compensation is a really, really key differentiator, in that internships-- sometimes they're paid, sometimes they're unpaid, sometimes they have a stipend. An apprenticeship is always fully paid-- ideally with benefits, but the core requirement is that it must be paid. So that's really the biggest differentiator. And if we go to the next slide.

So a key component is having this local education agency, which I will say you all probably are. [LAUGHS] But the local education agency is a key player in this space. And for apprenticeships in California, there must be some branch of our public education system overseeing or directly delivering that related and supplemental instruction, which is a key part of the quality of apprenticeships here in California. So next slide.

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Flow chart.

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So by comparison-- ugh, OK, I keep getting ahead of myself. OK, so to register an apprenticeship, what I-- and again, you're going to get these slides afterwards, so I'm doing a quick run-through here to give you the introduction. But the starting point is really reach out to DAS. There'll be contact information at the end, but also, you can go to the DAS website to find a sector or the contact to get started with DAS.

But really, the key component is identifying the occupation and the employers. You all already are the local education agencies, so you don't have to identify one. You are one. [LAUGHS] But when we're talking about other stakeholders, that's the other key entity that has to be identified to start bringing together the pieces for an apprenticeship. And then the DAS team-- I have a whole team of folks who will help you in the technical assistance part to get your program registered, to get all the core requirements to get the program registered and launched.

So if we go to the next slide, by comparison, a preapprenticeship is-- really, it's a training program that prepares somebody specifically to enter into an apprenticeship. And therefore, the really, really key requirement for a preapprenticeship is that you have to have some sort of linkage with an apprenticeship program in California.

So I'm going to give you a tool. I'm going to share in the chat a lookup tool for you to be able to go and look up the apprenticeships that are already registered in the state. So if you're in-- so I just gave you an overview if you want to start your apprenticeship, but there are already hundreds of apprenticeship programs registered out there. And I do think in the adult ed space, creating a robust pathway of preapprenticeships, those training programs that help get you those initial building blocks to get into an apprenticeship, I think that's an incredibly valuable role that you all can play in this overall system.

And so a good place to start is to look up what are the apprenticeship programs that are operating in your region and reach out to them and start that conversation because in order to have a preapprenticeship, you have to be linked to an apprenticeship program. So if we go to the next slide.

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Diagram.

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So the overall process here, or the overall stakeholders, that key first partner is the registered apprenticeship program sponsor. So that is essential. You can't have a preapprenticeship to nowhere, right? You've got to have a preapprenticeship that's linked to an apprenticeship program.

And really the memorandum of understanding between the training partner, the educator, the local education agency, which of course, is providing the training, and the registered apprenticeship program-- you got to have some sort of MOU, some sort of agreement between your two entities where the registered apprenticeship program is saying, yes, this training program is preparing folks for our apprenticeship.

And it doesn't have to guarantee spots. It's good if it does, but it doesn't have to guarantee spots. But the program does have to sign off on the preapprenticeship to say, yes, this training is setting people up for success in the apprenticeship program.

But again, I think the preapprenticeship program sponsor, it can be a wide variety of entities. It could be a nonprofit. It certainly can be an adult ed. It could be a workforce development board. A lot of different groups are stepping up to do more with preapprenticeship, which I think is really great and, as I said at the top, I think is a really key component of how we build an equitable system-- that we're really thinking about how you all are building pathways into apprenticeship. So if you go to the next slide.

So the process to get started is, again, to reach out to DAS. We do have a simple preapprenticeship overview page, and I'll put the link here in the chat. And you can reach out to the Preapprenticeship Inbox that's listed on this page. And you'll get a package of materials. A member of my team will reach out to help you get set up. But just keep in mind, the most important thing here is the MOU. That's really what is the most important component. And then you can start setting up your program and get it registered with DAS.

And that process is a very, very simple process. I'll be honest, setting up an apprenticeship is a step more complex in comparison to setting up a preapprenticeship, which is very fast and simple. So I thoroughly encourage folks to reach out to the DAS team if you're intrigued and want to learn more.

So if you go to the next slide-- great. So I'm handing it off now, and I welcome folks to put questions in the chat. I will be able to hang out and be as helpful as I can here. And please reach out to the DAS team if we can be helpful in your exploring of next steps.

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: Thank you so much, Chief Burnes. And I wanted to mention that, Adele, is it the case that you are the first woman chief of DAS?

ADELE BURNES: No, I'm happy to report I am not. [LAUGHS]

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: OK. Well, our team noticed the group of women that you had pictured in your opening slide, I have the honor to serve as part of the IACA EEO. And I just wanted to highlight one point that Adele mentioned around the role of LEAs and why they're so important. I worked at the Building Trades, and actually, our vice chancellor of economic workforce development was the dean of the LEA when I was working in the Building Trades. And when Adele spoke of the quality of the preapprenticeship and apprenticeship programs, it is that tie with the LEA. And with that, I am honored to turn it over to Marlyn Garcia and Heather Rahman to tell us about the Golden Gate's Bus Operator Preapprenticeship and Apprenticeship Program.

MARLYN GARCIA: Good morning, everyone. So first of all, I just want to introduce our partners who make this program possible, and the first one is Golden Gate Transit, who is employer. And then we also have the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1575. And California Transit Works has been such a great partner. They have been providing a lot of technical assistance because they are the experts in the industry. And then, of course, the two community colleges, SRJC and COM. But it has been a great team effort, and this program wouldn't be possible without having all these partners on board. Next slide, please.

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Golden Gate Bus Operator Pre-Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Program Graphic.

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HEATHER RAHMAN: Thank you for having us, by the way. I'm with College of Marin. And our dean, Dr. Alina Varona would be here, but she's been on leave this semester. So I'm here and pleased to talk about their apprenticeship program.

So if I were a candidate, I'm interested in going into the profession of being a bus operator. I would first probably learn this from a community-based organization or some social media post. We marketed pretty heavily, but we made the program very aware through Marin Adult Education and Santa Rosa Junior College Adult Education, and then Canal Alliance, which is an advocate for immigrants.

And then I would try to get into the Sonoma-Marin preapprenticeship at SRJC, Santa Rosa Junior College. And from there, I would be a candidate for the Golden Gate Transit Apprenticeship Program. And I would earned 12 units of college credit and do my 2,000 hours of on-the-job hours, earning an amount of $28 for the first six months. And then the step-up in the second six months would be $30.49 per an hour. And then finally, I would become a bus coach operator, starting out at $32.09 per an hour thereafter.

And when we say it's 81% success rate, this is only like once you're an apprentice and you're registered with the DAS, then 81% of those apprentices are finishing successfully through the on-the-job training. And we've had 22 apprentices earn their completion-- sorry, certificate of achievement through College of Marin and earn those 12 units of college credit, and most of them have gone on to become full-time employee bus coach operators. Next slide, please.

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So we started our talks in summer of 2021. Golden Gate Transit and their union, the ATU, contacted College of Marin, I think, with the California Transit Works group, and they expressed that they had a large attrition following COVID. A lot of their applicants to become bus coach operators were not making it through a year-long training program. They had a 50% applicant fail entrance exam, or they just didn't qualify.

And what we learned is that there really should be some wraparound services, a lot of coaching, a lot of soft skill pre-empting, trying to go into this profession. And that's where the idea is like, this really does warrant a preapprenticeship program to get them ready for all those soft skills, which Marlyn will speak a little bit more to. And then we basically brought together all that evidence and data and decided to use this as a foundation for putting together our proposal for the preapprenticeship and their apprenticeship. So next slide, and, Marlyn.

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Sonoma-Marin Bus Operator Pre-Apprenticeship Program.

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MARLYN GARCIA: Thank you, Heather. Like Heather mentioned, in the fall of '21, I was approached by the dean of Career Education here at the JC, who said we are applying for a California Apprenticeship Initiative grant in partnership with all the agencies that I already mentioned. And I didn't have any knowledge of bus operating industry, but I agreed to help with this project because we thought that, at that point, they had already made the decision that College of Marin was going to be applying for the apprenticeship program and that Santa Rosa Junior College would apply for the apprenticeship programs and that that would be a better fit for the noncredit side of the college, which is my area of expertise.

So like I said, I got a lot of support from Golden Gate Transit, the Amalgamated Transit Union, and California Transit Works in drafting this application. So we submitted the application, I remember, right before Christmas. [LAUGHS] And then I said, we already have some courses in Adult Education, some workforce preparation courses that we can use. So we didn't have to go through the whole curriculum process because, as you know, it takes at least a year to create new courses and new certificate programs in noncredit.

And then in the spring of 2022, we worked with Golden Gate Transit to adapt the curriculum. Like I said, we had the course outline of records, but we didn't have the class materials. And those courses needed to be adapted to the transit industry, and that's what we did. We had a faculty member work with some bus operators and mentors at Golden Gate Transit to create the class materials for five different courses that we had in Adult Education.

And then we also established a work group and an advisory committee group made up of all the agencies that I mentioned before. So we were meeting every other week, all of us, to create these new programs. And then in the summer of '22, because we're getting ready to launch the first cohort in fall '22-- so we started creating marketing materials. So we created flyers. We created interest forms. And then we opened the first application cycle. And then in the fall '22, we were able to offer the first cohort. And after that, we realized that we had too many courses, so we made some curriculum updates.

And we also made changes to our registration process because, as everybody knows, in Adult Education, noncredit, we serve a lot of undocumented students. So we had to change our ways of doing outreach so that we could make sure that we didn't get any undocumented students, because in the first cohort, we had a couple of-- they went through the immigration process, but they didn't have the work permit yet. So they were not able to get hired. So we made a lot of changes. We came up with an interview to be able to accept the students into the program. And then we added additional questions to the application to make sure that all of the students had the right to work in order to be able to be hired at Golden Gate Transit.

And then in the spring '23, we hosted the second cohort. In fall '23, we had our cohort number three. In the spring '24, we had cohort number four. And then College of Marin submitted their application for their apprenticeship program to be officially registered, and it was approved. And then in fall '24, we had the cohort number five.

And also, because Adele already mentioned it took forever for College of Marin to get their apprenticeship registered, and I know that there were a lot of issues and it takes a long time to register the apprenticeship program, like Adele mentioned, we're not able to register our apprenticeship program even though we're already running cohorts. The apprenticeship program wasn't officially registered because we were waiting for College of Marin to have their apprenticeship program registered. And there were a lot of issues, and we're not experts. And we had a consultant from DAS who was helping us, but it took a lot longer than we had expected.

So then in fall '24, we were able to submit our application. So we had an MOU with Golden Gate Transit and College of Marin. And finally, our program was registered right before our CAI grant was over. So it was registered in January of this year, when we ran our last cohort. So now we finally have a registered apprenticeship program. Next slide, please.

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So like I said, we made changes to our curriculum. So now the program is made up of three different classes. So Adult Education 766.2, Lifelong Learning and Professionalism-- this is only a 12-hour course, and it is offered fully online. We also have Adult Ed 766.3, Communication and Customer Service. So this is also only 12 hours, fully online. And then Adult Ed 766.5, Transition to Careers-- this is the practicum course. It's 32 hours. There are 24 hours in-person. So it's made up of three shadow days. So the students have to go to Golden Gate transit and be there for 8 hours each day, and then we have 8 hours online with the instructor of record.

So the instructor teaching these classes is an SRJC instructor, but in every single class, there's at least one Golden Gate Transit guest speaker presenting information. So like I said, the main reason why I feel this program has been successful is because of the investment of Golden Gate Transit. Next slide, please.

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A table.

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And this last slide is just to show you information about the numbers of the students that we had in the program. Like I said, we had a hard time selling the program because about 50% of the students that we serve are undocumented, so they don't qualify for the program. Another issue is English skills. We serve a lot of students who do not speak English, so they are not able to get into the program.

But you can see the number of applications we have for each cohort, how many students were admitted into the program, how many students completed the program, and then the last column shows the number of completers who transitioned into the apprenticeship program. And you can see that the numbers were not that great, but they're getting better and better every semester. And for the next semester, spring '26, we had 55 applications, and we already accepted 27 students into the program. And then we're just waiting for a few more to complete their interview. Next slide, please. Heather, that's yours.

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Text: Golden Gate Bus Operator Apprenticeship Program.

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HEATHER RAHMAN: Just briefly, we've had 64 enrollments-- maybe a little bit more. We're looking at issuing credit for Prior Learning because there were some apprentices in training right before DAS approved our program. And it looks like we're going to have 27 awarded, minimal-- maybe a little bit more-- come spring 2026. And I'll be putting together a really nice celebration for everybody early summer or late spring. Next slide.

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Bullet points.

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So Marlyn and I probably could speak 20 minutes on what we suggest, but just to highlight, I want to say that just make sure you're speaking to the different departments at a community college about your apprenticeship, especially if it's a new apprenticeship and they've not ever had one before, because HR may have to operate a little bit differently for onboarding an instructor that's not really with your institution, that's with a union or a place of business.

Your IT department may have to consider onboarding a little bit different enrollment services. I mean, it touches upon counseling-- just all the different departments. And there could be some little glitches to iron out, and it's good to head those up before launching the program.

And then Marlyn and I was absolutely on board about staying committed employers. Being committed to the program is absolutely essential. Standing meetings to touch base, make sure everybody's on the same page, because you're working with different organizations-- very important. Marlyn, did you want to add?

MARLYN GARCIA: So the main thing is to find a good employer who's invested in the program. Like I said, Golden Gate Transit attended so many meetings. They have been guest speakers. And also, for the first six cohorts, they provided a $1,000 stipend for all the completers. So that's just amazing. And they're always in constant communication with us, just providing support if we need to. They are awesome, and I feel like that's the key to a successful apprenticeship or preapprenticeship program.

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Slide: MSJC Construction Pre-Apprenticeship Program Overview. MSJC, Mt. San Jacinto College, Jasmine Port.

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LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: Wonderful. Marlyn and Heather, thank you so much. I wanted to just highlight a couple of points that came out, and I'm also checking the chat for questions. The first is around funding.

So both the Chancellor's Office and DAS offer various grant supports for apprenticeships. So Adele is fantastic about posting on LinkedIn and other areas, whether it's the COYA grants. And same thing with the Chancellor's Office. I know that Gary's team really does a good job of promoting these grant opportunities to support this ambitious goal of 500,000. And I appreciate Adele sharing a little bit about how far we are in reaching that goal as inspiration to continue this good work.

I saw some questions in the chat regarding English language learner support, which is something that SRJC does an exceptionally good job on. When Marlyn and I were first getting acquainted, I noticed, when I called her, everything was in Spanish on the telephone for anyone calling in, and I know that that is a successful component of the program that you've heard about this morning.

I also just wanted to make note of undocumented students. It is really an equity dilemma, in that we can train undocumented students, but we are not in a position to be able to employ them. And that is a great frustration, and that is a limitation of this particular pathway for adult learners. But it does not preclude an undocumented student from the preapprenticeship portion, to the best of my knowledge, and that is a CAEP-covered program area. So we do want to keep that in mind.

With that, I am delighted to introduce everyone to Jasmine Port, who will be telling us about Mt. San Jacinto College's program in Construction Preapprenticeship. Jasmine.

JASMINE PORT: Good morning, everyone. I'm happy to be here to share an overview of our construction preapprenticeship program. Next slide, please.

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Slide. A bullet point list.

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Our program was launched in 2019 as a noncredit CDCP pathway, developed in partnership with the Southwest Mountain States Regional Council of Carpenters. This pathway is designed to prepare adult learners for entry into registered apprenticeship. We run two cohorts each year, one in the fall and one in the spring, with about 20 students per cohort.

Let's see here. The course runs at about 14 weeks currently, for those of you that are interested in that. We serve adult learners from ESL, high school equivalency, and our citizenship program areas, but really, any adults looking to seek workforce re-entry. And for our English language learners, we require at least an intermediate 2 language proficiency.

And because this is a CDCP pathway, it is structured, stackable, and earns enhanced noncredit apportionment when students complete this sequence of courses. OK, so let me walk you through how our program is structured. Next slide, please.

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Slide: Program Structure. A bullet point list.

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Our program uses a hybrid instructional model to support adult learners with complex schedules. On Mondays, students meet on Zoom for construction theory-- really, all of that content knowledge. I know there's a lot of applied math going on on Monday nights. And then on Saturdays, they attend in-person build classes at the Habitat for Humanity Education Complex. This site provides consistent, realistic, hands-on training, which has been essential for our institution, as we don't have a dedicated build facility.

At completion of our program, students earn CPR certification, OSHA 10, and they do earn a Tier I certificate from the union documenting 40 hours of training. These stackable credentials build both confidence and employability for our students.

One of the major program benefits is our union partnership, which provides demonstrations either on site-- I know they have supported on-site training tours at their rather impressive training facilities, guidance regarding the industry in terms of currency in our curriculum, workforce trends in the construction industry, and overall exposure to apprenticeship culture. Next slide, please. Next, I want to share some of the strengths of our program and the work that is currently underway.

So our key strength is our long-standing partnership with the Carpenters Union. Our MOU renewal process is in progress, and our relationship remains strong. We also have stable enrollment and strong student interest year after year. And of course, our hands-on site partnership with Habitat for Humanity allows us to provide a consistent, high-quality build environment.

Right now, our major area of focus is our DAS approval process for formal preapprenticeship recognition. So we're focused on getting our curriculum, training hours, and all of our elements validated via the DAS process.

We are also updating our intake and onboarding processes. Although many students do complete our program successfully-- we do have high completion rates-- we're finding that not enough are taking the next formal step into union employment. And we believe that this is not a matter of interest or capability but rather readiness and clarity at the beginning of the program. So by strengthening our orientation, expectations, and job readiness supports, we expect to see higher transitions into apprenticeship.

So looking forward, our next steps really are focused on increasing those transitions into the formal apprenticeship and union employment, strengthening employer engagement across the construction sector outside of just the carpenters. And we will continue refining our curriculum and support structures to ensure alignment with industry needs and to better support our adult learners as they prepare for apprenticeship overall.

That's all I have for you. Thank you for allowing me to share what we're doing at MSJC.

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Q and A.

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LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: Thank you so much, Jasmine. I wanted to just point out again that we intentionally invited guests that could share preapprenticeship-to-apprenticeship pathways on both the Building Trades and what we call the IACA.

Jasmine, I'm interested in what you said about trying to boost the numbers into the apprenticeship side. One of the things that I noticed when I worked in Building Trades is the Building Trades apprenticeship, in comparison to many of the IACA's, is a significant commitment. Up to five years I worked in the plumbing and pipe fitting. And that may vary across the Building Trades.

So Jasmine was talking about carpenters. It's a long time. It's a long time to become a journeyperson. There are wage increases along the way. But what I was amazed to find out, when Marlyn and I first became acquainted and I learned about the program that she and Heather talked about, is the total time for preapprenticeship to apprenticeship-- Marlyn, can you confirm again what is that total time for completers?

MARLYN GARCIA: For the preapprenticeship program, it's 12 weeks.

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: And for the apprenticeship itself?

HEATHER RAHMAN: One year.

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: One year?

HEATHER RAHMAN: Yes.

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: OK, so that is the fraction of time to get into a living wage job. Now, this is Marin County. $32 an hour is not a huge amount of money. However, relative to a minimum wage job and including the benefits that come with a union job, whether it's medical, health, pension, and so on, this is truly the on-ramps of adult learning that we talk about consistently in Vision 2030. So with that, I am delighted to transition to Dulce Delgadillo, director of Office of Institutional Research and Planning at NOCE. Dulce.

DULCE DELGADILLO: Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for spending your Friday midmorning with us today. And now we are-- and thank you to all of our presenters for showcasing just amazing pathways for our students and opportunities for our students within our system. So now we're going to go ahead and open it up for questions. Does anybody have any questions? Or anything they would like to share or any best practices? We'll take those, too.

AUDIENCE: Yes, hi, this is Michael Maroney. I had a quick question. Does the 40 hours of compensation all have to come from the same company year round or-- I'm specifically thinking, since these kids might be enrolled in colleges, that they might actually get student work in that field on campus. Can that be a part of the 20 hours-- like, if they got 12 hours a week, and then our company supplemented that with the remainder of the 40 hours?

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: I'm wondering, is this a question that Adele might address?

ADELE BURNES: Sorry, can you repeat?

AUDIENCE: Yes. Again, this is Mike. So I have a company that sometimes is seasonal, and a lot of our kids are students. And if they're taking classes on campus, they also qualify for student worker program. And what we were hoping to do is create a situation where they can get some of their student worker hours in that field on campus, and then we would supplement the remainder of the 40 hours.

So if they got 12 hours a week on the college campus, could we turn around and do the additional 28 hours, if my math is correct, to come up with the 40 hours? Or do we need to go ahead and plan we have to be 40 hours throughout the whole course of this calendar year?

ADELE BURNES: You got it. OK, so it's not required that an apprentice be working 40 hours a week. And in fact, when you think about the apprenticeship in the Building Trades context, there can be variability in projects. Like, an apprentice gets deployed to a project and is working a whole lot one week, but then maybe another week is working less. So the apprenticeship mechanism certainly allows for flexibility in terms of number of hours in a week.

But it is, at the end of the day, essentially a credential. So when somebody graduates from an apprenticeship program, whether it be as a bus operator or whether it be as a carpenter or whether it be as a community health worker, they have to have completed either a certain level of competencies, but also, there's a minimum hour threshold.

But it's going to depend on how you set up your program. But let's say it's a 2,000-hour program. Then you have to complete the 2,000 hours. And maybe because there's that variability because they might be working 50%, studying 50%-- it's going to depend on the design of your program-- maybe getting 2,000 hours takes two years because it's not 40 hours a week.

So there is that flexibility built in, A, and B, it's very common, again, for an apprentice to work for multiple employers over the duration of their apprenticeship. So again, going back to the traditional context of Building Trades apprenticeships, that's totally normal. You get deployed to one project for four months. You get deployed to another project with a different employer for two months.

So again, that variability of employers is totally fine, but it means that whoever is the program sponsor-- let's say that program sponsor is the college. I don't know, Michael, what context you're talking about. But let's say that context is a college. The college is responsible for making sure that that apprentice is getting enough job placements and enough rotation through the different competencies that they need to learn to attain the skills needed to complete the apprenticeship.

And so it's totally possible that that placement could be partly at the college, partly at an external employer. But you have to just track that and make sure that when that apprentice completes, they're both getting the number of hours but also getting an opportunity to get exposure to and, therefore, trained in and upskilled in the different areas that are articulated in the apprenticeship standards.

AUDIENCE: Super. OK, thank you very much, Adele.

DULCE DELGADILLO: Go ahead, Rosie, and then we'll go ahead and take it-- we have one question in the chat. Go for it, Rosie.

AUDIENCE: Thanks, everyone. Great information. Appreciate everyone's examples. My question was for Jasmine. And I'm just going back to some of the notes you mentioned in regards to the next steps-- increasing transitions to union employment and strengthening employer engagement. And you mentioned specifically, continue to refine curriculum and supports, and I'm thinking about-- is it continuing to refine, or is it also continuing to message those supports? And if you can expand on your pivot, especially in regards to showcasing the benefits from union employment in that sector. Thank you.

JASMINE PORT: Thank you for your question, Rosie. Yeah, I think it's really a recalibration of the messaging. I think it's all those things. We started this program in 2019, and that's where we are at with all of our CTE, just so you're aware. We're looking OK. We had phase I. We launched. Now we really need to look at our outcomes. And so really, we're looking at that with our preapprenticeship program.

And I mentioned that our carpenters are amazing partners, right? And so we were analyzing our data, like, why aren't we seeing enough folks transition directly into the apprenticeship? When they do that, that's immediately $26-an-hour employment right there. That's no joke.

And so in terms of what are the supports-- I was just talking with some of my consortium colleagues-- actually, my consortium co-director, who I know is in the crowd. We were talking about, well, how do we-- and this is where that refining the curriculum, or maybe the overall core structure, or the supports of the course, come into play. We were talking about, well, why don't we embed an actual application process or outreach from the union representative at the end of the class for completers to really full-court press that transition to joining the union and employment in that regard?

So those are some of the strategies, going back to the drawing board, that we're looking to implement in future cohorts. But I do know that the union is really strong in terms of-- they also believe it is that messaging in that readiness and that commitment that Lisa was speaking to, in terms of-- if you are in it to win it, this is a viable pathway towards prosperity. But you have to have some skin in the game. You have to understand that you're driving to these job sites, you are completing all that required training so that you can move up throughout the apprenticeship pathway. So I think it's really just reiterating those elements to bolster those transitions.

So I hope that answers your question. That's where our work is taking us currently.

AUDIENCE: Thanks so much, Jasmine. I might reach out to you offline, so thanks so much.

JASMINE PORT: Absolutely.

DULCE DELGADILLO: Great. So I'm going to go ahead, and, Euline, before we move over to you, I'm just going to recognize the first question that popped up in the chat here. Does anyone encounter apprentices who face barriers to access programs like CalFresh? Because of their apprenticeship, income is being counted for eligibility. It's the benefits cliff issue. So does anybody have any experience with that or has any best practices? It is a great question. Oh, go ahead.

ADELE BURNES: It's certainly something that I've looked at and had some conversations around. It's really highly dependent upon the apprenticeship and the context and the situation. Obviously, a preapprenticeship, there isn't that issue because the preapprenticeship is a training program that's helping you get into an apprenticeship.

So yeah, once you're in the apprenticeship and you're earning enough that the benefits cliff kicks in, yes, that has an implication, but at that point, you have a job. An apprenticeship is not a training program. You're employed. You have a paycheck.

So maybe that's correct for those benefits to-- but again, there's wage steps in that process. So maybe they still qualify for some of those benefits initially, which is appropriate, given the wage that they're making. But hopefully, as they progress through the apprenticeship and are earning more, and those earnings are more regular, indeed they will have their benefits not be available, but that's OK because they're earning, and they have the job. Like, you've done the thing.

So yeah, that's the level to which I've sort of dove into it. But again, I think some folks from my team were just at a CalWORKs event earlier this week because we're trying to support those folks to get into the apprenticeship because that's the whole point. It's the lifting point. Getting them access to that is the success point that helps them get off of those support services and into employment that helps sustain their life. So just like we're here talking to you all, we're also trying to make sure that we work with those different partners to help build the pathways into apprenticeship, which are employment.

DULCE DELGADILLO: Thank you, Adele. All right, I think we have time for one more. Euline, go for it.

AUDIENCE: Thank you, Dulce. My comment, and then I have a question. But I just wanted to really applaud and thank Marlyn and Heather for such a great collaboration that they've had, and also just the perseverance there. I know that anything that goes through the DAS, or even the curriculum committee, in creating preapprenticeship and apprenticeship takes a while and for you to persevere. So thank you for doing that.

And, Marlyn, you did mention about creating preapprenticeship, apprenticeship programs for our immigrants and those who don't have yet the level of English proficiency that they need. But I know that they're looking for things like that for bus operator programs or any that they could get into and then support.

Is there any work, or any other preapprenticeship classes, courses, so that those who have English language as a barrier, or any multilingual learners who are still increasing their proficiency in English-- is there a career pathway for them to work on?

And I know that the three counties are in close proximity from each other-- Mendocino, Lake County. We have also Sonoma and Marin. And I know that we have plenty in Mendocino County that are multilinguals, that would love to get into this kind of program. Is there any updates on that, or are you working on some pathways for them? Thank you.

MARLYN GARCIA: We have been trying to create an IET program. So that, like you said, prepares students because we had great candidates. So we work in partnership with Canal Alliance from San Rafael in Marin County, and they serve primarily Spanish speakers. So we have a lot of clients who are very excited about getting into the program, but they can't because they cannot pass the skills test because of the English.

So in that case, what we have been doing is just registering them for regular ESL classes. But at some point, once we have enough students like this-- because, right now, we couldn't fill cohort with just English language learners for this specific program, but maybe in the future, we can. And we have instructors who are able to teach the vocational ESL classes for this particular program.

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: Euline, you're muted.

AUDIENCE: It's OK. I was just thanking Marlyn for that. That's great. Thank you.

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: OK, wonderful.

DULCE DELGADILLO: All right. I think we actually have time for a couple more because I was informed that we are going to about 11:10. So let me see. I just want to go through what's been going through here. So we are coming up on time, and I know that some of these questions can get very, very into the weeds.

So for ones that we do see some trends, I mean, we already see, at least from a TAP perspective, some resources that we can put together for the field around this topic, specifically around perhaps setting up in correctional facilities, around the usage of the pay models and best practices. I don't know if anybody has any examples of apprenticeships in correctional facilities. Does anybody have-- on this call-- any experience with that realm?

ADELE BURNES: I'll make this my last answer because I do have to drop right at 11:00. So there are a number of preapprenticeship and apprenticeship programs connected to our correctional facilities, but I think there's space for there to be much more, especially in this preapprenticeship space.

So I know that there's a number of Building Trades programs that have set up MC3 programs with correctional facilities, which I think is a great pathway-building mechanism to support those folks, so that when they are postincarceration, they have some training and a foothold into that next step. So there are a bunch of programs out there.

So definitely encourage folks, if that's a realm you're connected to, to do more. And again, going back to those initial first steps-- like, you are that education and training partner, so identify the registered apprenticeship programs in your region, talk to them about whether they might be interested in building that pathway, and then reach out to your local correctional facilities to try to build those pathways.

So yes, that's definitely available. And I would really focus the efforts on preapprenticeships because, obviously, it's very hard to have the apprenticeship start while somebody is incarcerated. But the preapprenticeship training absolutely can, and I would encourage more development of those kind of programs in our correctional systems.

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: Wonderful. Good to know that, Adele, and thank you so much for joining us. I am aware that you need to drop off.

DULCE DELGADILLO: Thank you so much, Adele. Great information. Like I said, as your TAP, we are really hoping that we can consolidate some of these resources, information. That way, we can all have it centralized as programs are being built and expanded and scaled up.

So I have another question here. For consideration for new apprenticeship programs, do they always have to have 144 hours of instruction, or can it be less? And so Adele actually responded to this. 144 is the minimum, and there can certainly be more. It will be worked out in the design of the program.

All right, just a quick reminder, yes, these slides, they will be shared out once they are remediated. And we will be sharing out the recording as well.

I also just want to highlight that-- thank you, Mayra-- Mayra Diaz was able to share some Chancellor's Office resources here, straight from the Chancellor's Office through the WEDD Department, which is the Workforce and Economic Development. So that is where CAEP is housed, but also where programs like Strong Workforce are housed as well. So it's all within the realm of career technical education as well. And so that's really helpful that Chancellor's Office has some of those, too.

All right, do we have any final questions, comments, recommendations? Oh, thank you, Janae. So Janae was able to place in on the DIR website the Interagency Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship page. Yes, that is a great resource, thank you very much, although there are not many links on this. Is there a place where more info exists for these program areas? I am not sure about that, but we will definitely have that as part of-- I'm thinking potentially an FAQ around some of these topics for the field-- maybe helpful. And, Toney, I see your hand up.

AUDIENCE: Yes, hi. I didn't hear, but maybe it was to talk about-- I'm at Southwestern College, and we run an art program under the Higher Construction Careers funding. So what I found-- and we are ending our fifth cohort-- and just something common to me, is the common theme is that you can't say enough-- and I think San Jacinto touched on this-- about students really being ready to go into the union and being on time.

And I've been thinking about-- these are essential skills that maybe we need to look at collectively at Chancellor's Office to build in for apprenticeship. Those are some common areas that they have to be ready, be prepared, because some of our students, even though we're telling them they have to be prepared and part of the program that we have, they get a gym membership, it's still difficult. It's challenging to be in the trades union.

So I guess it's not necessarily a question. It's something to put on the books in terms of FAQ or resources about soft skill training for apprenticeship. And then I want to also go back in how we recruit.

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: Mm-hmm, very important.

AUDIENCE: Oftentimes, we are-- it's very important. And we're recruiting because there's a need. And they're saying, I want to do this, but how do we be intentional about recruiting so that they are successful and feel confident when it's time to transition to?

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: Toney, thank you for that important question. And I would just add, my contact will be on the final slide. And I did mention that I serve on the statewide IACA committee for EEO and apprenticeships. We are always looking for additional members to serve on that committee. So if you have interest and/or expertise to share-- I say that because Toney brought up the recruitment piece.

The demographics of the participation of women and people of color in apprenticeships historically is poor. Part of that has been lack of data collection tools. That has improved. That will continue to improve under Adele's leadership. But we really do need practitioners from the field to be pushing that. And the IACA committee that I serve on has just come out with a set of practices that will eventually be published on the DAS website. So just something to consider.

DULCE DELGADILLO: Great. Thank you, everybody.

AUDIENCE: Thank you.

DULCE DELGADILLO: Thank you. Any final questions? Coming up on last couple of minutes of our time here. Great conversation. Thank you so much, everybody, for all of your insights, for your comments, for your engagement, and most importantly, for your time and your attention this morning. Thank you very much-- and participating. Next slide, please. We're going to go ahead and wrap it up.

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QR code.

(SPEECH)
So we are a research department, and we'd very much like your feedback. We look at it, and we incorporate it into each of our trainings. So please, please, if you have time. Thank you. Chandni dropped in the link. You can either click on the link in the chat, or you can go ahead and scan the QR code. We want to hear from you. These are webinars for you, to help give you tools. So please let us know what is the best way that we can support you out in the field as we all engage in this very important work. Next slide.

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CC TAP Listserv.

(SPEECH)
All right, if you're not familiar with our listserv, we have a listserv. So you can go ahead and subscribe either through the link there or through the QR code. This is something that we provide for all of our CAEP practitioners. And we actually also share media with our partners at Sacramento County of Education. So we are definitely always making sure that both sides of the house are in the loop on all of the communication that is coming from the federal department, from CDE, and from the Chancellor's Office for all of our practitioners.

So please, please, if you are able to share out the listserv for everybody else, if you have specific questions and you want to email us, that is one way to email us at tap@caladulted.org. We provide technical assistance both through NOCE and through Sacramento County of Education. And so we are able to support you through a variety of ways. That is one way that you can communicate with us via email. Next slide, please.

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All right, so the way that we are able to have such informative webinars is because we are looking for experts. We had some great panelists today to showcase the great work that's happening already on the ground. I think this is one of my favorite parts of this work, which is building community among the expertise out in the field. We don't have the answers for all of this, and we're really in the business of sharing resources among all of our colleagues.

So if you are an expert or if you know of someone who is an expert in the field, please let us know. Please sign up here. You can sign up for a field interest form, or you can share it with a colleague. And we are looking for all types of expertise-- adult education on both the K-through-12 side and the noncredit side, whether it's curriculum development.

We are very data-heavy, so if you are whether on the fiscal reporting side or on the outcomes reporting side, let us know. We are also in the business of strategic planning in CAEP. So if you have expertise in strategic planning or annual planning, please let us know. All of those expertise, content topics, we will definitely leverage as we provide a variety of topics for our professional development for the field. Next slide.

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Thank you for Joining Us! For any Questions.

(SPEECH)
All right, well, thank you so much for joining us. Again, this is our contact information. I want to thank our presenters both at Marin, at Santa Rosa, at Mt. San Jacinto, and at the Apprenticeship Standards Department. Thank you so much, everyone, for your time.

If you have any questions or any feedback, please do not hesitate to reach out. Again, we are here to help support you, to be your thought partners, to come up with strategies, to share resources with you, and to really elevate this work so that we can get all the resources that we need so that we can support our students. That is our goal-- supporting our students to the best of our ability.

I want to wish you all a happy holidays, a happy New Year. If we do not see you, we have another webinar coming up in January. So keep an eye out. Sign up for that listserv. And I think that is our last slide, Chandni. Is it?

LISA MEDNICK TAKAMI: Yes. Thank you, Dulce. Thank you, everyone-- our panelists, everyone who joined this morning. Please stay tuned as we continue to-- and fill out that survey so we know if you would like additional webinars on this particular topic. And again, wishing everyone a good weekend and a very happy holiday season. Thank you. Bye-bye.

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