Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced a $3 million investment into New York's workforce needs.
The Governor's new program dedicates funding specific to the creation of up to 2,000 new pre-apprenticeship and registered apprenticeship positions in advanced manufacturing and healthcare over the next four to six years.
"A trained workforce is a strong workforce, and these registered apprenticeship programs address a growing need for skilled workers in advanced manufacturing and healthcare," Governor Cuomo said. "These critically important apprenticeship programs will support out workforce and create good-paying jobs that are the foundation of New York's middle class."
As part of the program, SUNY campuses convened employers for industry roundtables on a statewide and regional basis to aid in the expansion of registered apprenticeships. These groups will help identify particular workforce needs and skills gaps to be filled through the registered apprenticeship program, and discuss how employers can become sponsors. SUNY and NYSDOL will seek to link the roundtables to the work of the Regional Economic Development Councils and the Statewide Workforce Development Boards to help meet workforce development needs in critical industries across the state.
"As our economy continues to grow across the state, the importance of skilled labor continues to rise," said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. "There are so many careers today that go beyond the traditional four-year college model, and it is important for our state to invest in this key component of our workforce. This new partnership between SUNY, the Department of Labor, and the private sector will help New Yorkers to secure the training they need to be successful in advanced manufacturing and healthcare careers."
The registered apprenticeship program will enhance on-the-job training and related instruction for apprenticeships that include competency based training, exploring certificate, and degree programs with apprenticeship, as well as incorporating online modules and the use of subject matter and faculty experts to assist in updating curricula. Additionally, the program will explore new ideas for pre-apprenticeship training to include pathways for underrepresented minority populations.
SUNY has a proven history of workforce development programs. All 64 campuses offer students high-quality applied learning opportunities, and 15 of those campuses will soon require an applied learning experience to graduate. Applied learning programs include but are not limited to:
SUNY Works - internships, clinical placements in which more than 20,000 SUNY students are already enrolled; and cooperative education programs, in which SUNY faculty and area employers have jointly developed curricula that integrate classroom instruction and on-the-job experience. Approximately 1,740 students are currently enrolled in cooperative education programs across SUNY.
SUNY Serves - service-learning, community service, civic engagement and volunteerism. More than 30,000 SUNY students are currently engaged in formal service-learning programs for which they earn college credit, while tens of thousands more participate in community service and volunteer locally, nationally and around the globe.
SUNY Discovers - study abroad, student research, entrepreneurial ventures and field study. While SUNY research has a proud history of breakthrough discoveries, inventions and startups, our increased focus on applied learning has led to an unprecedented level of collaboration between SUNY students, faculty and industry experts to enable commercialization of the best ideas and innovations born at our campuses.
In addition, SUNY's longstanding Educational Opportunity Centers deliver community-based, academic, and workforce development programs and services to more than 20,000 adult learners at more than 40 locations across the state. EOCs assist students in re-entering the education pipeline who may have dropped out of school, are under prepared for the workforce or higher education, or who are seeking new or different skill sets in order to take advantage of new employment opportunities.
