Gov. Tom Wolf recently announced awards totaling more than $4.9 million for 14 Pennsylvania apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs within the building and construction trades.
Bucks County Community College is receiving $400,00 for its Center for Workforce Development, which will develop and implement a Building and Construction Trades Pre-Apprenticeship Program. CWD will partner with the Bucks County Workforce Development Board, local unions and companies to better serve the community by providing the training necessary for graduates to matriculate into partnering registered apprenticeship programs and high-paying, family-sustaining careers. This project will train four cohorts of eight students each, for a total of 32 students.
The County of Bucks Department of Workforce and Economic Development will also receive $400,000. The pre-apprenticeship model will include the three Bucks County Career & Technical Centers schools: Bucks County Technical High School, Middle Bucks Institute of Technology and Upper Bucks County Technical School. Five construction/trade pre-apprenticeship programs will be designed and registered as pre-apprenticeships. An electrical pre-apprenticeship program will be created in the fall of 2022, followed by a plumbing pre-apprenticeship program in the spring of 2023. Three additional pre-apprenticeship programs will be registered in the fall of 2023 – carpentry, welding and HVAC. About 300 high school students will participate as pre-apprentices during these two school years.
“Throughout history, apprenticeships have been a vital part of career education in certain fields,” said Wolf. “Through these important grants, we are offering more Pennsylvania workers opportunities to train for family-sustaining jobs while helping businesses develop a workforce that will strengthen our economy and the communities most in need.”
Each of the 14 potential or currently registered apprenticeship or pre-apprenticeship programs will use this grant funding to develop diverse talent pipelines, reach underrepresented populations, and expand workforce development opportunities across 55 countries in Pennsylvania.
