Employer Grants Available to Start Hospitality Apprenticeship Programs Apprenticeship Carolina, under the leadership of Dr. Amy Firestone, was recently awarded $7.7 million in funding from the United States Department of Labor in State Apprenticeship Expansion, Equity, and Innovation (SAEEI) grant funds. These SAEEI grant funds will be used to provide much needed financial support to registered apprentices and pre-apprentices via tuition assistance for classes at the technical colleges and supportive service funding for registered apprentices. In addition, employers wishing to utilize grant funding for registered apprenticeship programs with external training providers or using internal trainings may apply for and receive up to $3,000 per registered apprentice to support registered apprenticeship-required training, curricula development and/or tools and supplies. This funding is designed to be flexible in nature to ensure equitable access to financial assistance for all registered apprentices. Employer incentive funding and/or tuition assistance is the flexible solution to help offset the financial costs of a registered apprenticeship program that would otherwise be paid by the employer or the apprentice. In addition to tuition assistance, these funds can be used
to pay for any tools or supplies required by the employer or instructor to complete the registered apprenticeship program. And Apprenticeship Carolina’s contribution to an apprentices’ success doesn’t stop there. To ensure that registered apprentices have access to the tools and resources they need to succeed once they are in their registered apprenticeship program, the SAEEI grant includes significant investments in technologies like a mobile Apprenticeship app, a Job Board, and for employers an Employer Portal. These technologies are expected to be rolled out in 2022 and will be made available to all employers and apprentices participating in registered apprenticeship programs at no charge. To promote SAEEI grant funding, significant investment in statewide marketing and outreach will be done on a variety of platforms, from billboards to Hulu to Youtube and Facebook. These marketing and outreach efforts, coupled with the hiring of Apprenticeship Carolina’s first ever bilingual Registered Program Specialist, are all efforts being done to ensure that all Carolina Citizens have equitable access to registered apprenticeship programs.
Apprenticeship Carolina by the Numbers
SCRLA.org
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