[ad_1]
PORTSMOUTH — Tidewater Community College has launched what it calls Virginia’s first sponsored state-registered apprenticeship programs, designed to make it easier for employers to offer apprenticeships and for students to learn on the job in high-demand fields.
The college is “the first and only institution in Virginia to receive this designation,” President Marcia Conston said at a Feb. 19 news conference at TCC’s Portsmouth campus. She added that TCC is “one of a few across the United States that is actively serving as a registered apprenticeship consortium.”
The Tidewater Registered Apprenticeship Consortium, Conston said, is intended to help address workforce shortages in the region and target fields, including health care, advanced manufacturing, information technology, maritime, hospitality, and skilled trades. The program applies across all of TCC.
“Our employer partners are, in turn, opening their doors to apprentices, and we here at TCC are providing the resources needed to remove financial and other barriers many of our students face every day, such as transportation and child care and food insecurity,” she said.
In an interview after the event, Conston said the sponsorship model shifts much of the administrative burden away from employers. It also involves curricula co-designed by TCC and participating businesses.
“Students are able to take classes while they also learn on the job,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, said registered apprenticeships help workers build in-demand skills while earning wages and gaining credentials: “Registered apprenticeships are among the best tools we have to make that happen.”
Scott told attendees that nationally, “90% of apprentices are employed upon completion and earn an average wage starting at about $80,000 a year.”
Employers said the sponsorship model can help close persistent gaps in skilled trades.
“These are not fallback jobs,” said Victoria Frerichs, talent acquisition manager at defense contractor Fairlead, one of five employers that signed on to the consortium. “These are highly technical positions. They are safety critical. They are mission essential.”
The Hampton Roads Workforce Council presented a $700,000 check during the event. In an interview afterward, Caitlin Dawson, TCC’s director of apprenticeship programs, said the money “will be used to offset the tuition cost to make it more affordable for our partners.”
Dawson said apprentices work with dedicated mentors and receive wage increases as they hit milestones in their training. She also said employers typically cover education costs for apprentices.
“Most of the time, the companies pay for your education whenever you are in the program,” Dawson said.
The college expects to grow the program to 500 apprentices within two years, Dawson said. “Right now we have, in all of our programs, 200 apprentices registered for the spring.”
The other companies signed on to the consortium are restaurant The General Public, Harbor’s Edge senior living community, shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls and Hampton Roads Communication Technologies, Dawson said.
Nicole Overley, commissioner of Virginia Works, the state’s workforce development agency, described apprenticeship as a structured combination of classroom learning and on-the-job training with pay increases and a credential.
“Take what someone needs to learn in the classroom, combine it with what they need to learn on a job, do it in a structured and measurable way, pay them a living wage while they learn, and reward their progress with increasing pay and a credential in the end,” Overley said.
Student Ian Kinsey, a machining apprentice, said apprenticeships link classroom instruction to real work: “Every class can connect to something I’m doing at work, which makes learning feel real and practical.”
For more information, visit tcc.edu/apprenticeship.
[ad_2]
