Apprenticeship programs in Pennsylvania are growing dramatically as state leaders work with employers, educators, and community organizations to introduce workers to a debt-free pathway to family-sustaining careers.
How to further expand those opportunities was the focus of the two-day ApprenticeshipPA Collaborative and Expo, attended by about 300 stakeholders at Wind Creek Bethlehem on Nov. 18-19, during National Apprenticeship Week. 
Pennsylvania has added more than 66 new apprenticeship programs in the past two years, since Gov. Josh Shapiro took office and his administration prioritized economic development and workforce development. The state now has nearly 1,700 occupation-specific registered apprenticeship programs, with nearly 16,000 apprentices enrolled.
“It's such a wonderful opportunity for workers to earn as they learn, for them to get on-the-job-training, to be able to have a pathway not just to a job, but to a real career with family-sustaining wages and benefits,” said Nancy Walker, Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry, who delivered opening remarks at the conference. “The U.S. Department of Labor tells us that somebody who graduates from an apprenticeship program will, on average, earn $80,000 a year.”
Lehigh Valley’s iTEC
A unique apprenticeship program launched last year in the Lehigh Valley, the Industrial Training and Education Consortium of the Lehigh Valley (iTEC), recently celebrated its one-year anniversary and was spotlighted during a session at the ApprenticeshipPA Collaborative and Expo, with information provided by B. Braun Medical and Workforce Board Lehigh Valley.
Patrick Alercia of Bethlehem, an iTEC apprentice with B. Braun Medical, participated in another panel discussion, one that offered perspectives from apprentices.
iTEC is a partnership of industry, education, government, and community organizations to promote careers in advanced manufacturing. The program is based on the German apprenticeship model. Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC) provides administrative support to iTEC.
“Having a broad coalition of manufacturers standing together and stating that these are the important skills that folks need, these are the jobs that those skills will lead to, here's the process of how you can obtain those jobs, and you can work and earn a wage while you're doing that learning, is extremely powerful,” said Karianne Gelinas, Vice President of Regional Partnerships and Talent Strategies at LVEDC.
Apprenticeships Change Lives and Communities
Apprenticeship programs support not only high school graduates and young adults looking to start careers, but also present opportunities for seasoned workers seeking a new career and for those who are re-entering the workforce, Walker said.
“Apprenticeship programs are open for everyone. They change the lives of people who participate. They change the families associated with those apprentices. And if we do our jobs right, we change communities in the process,” she said.
LVEDC staff were among those who participated in the ApprenticeshipPA Collaborative and Expo, which included sessions on how to create and grow apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs; building student awareness of apprenticeships; and how to ensure programs recruit with diversity in mind.
The event was sponsored by the PA Workforce Development Association, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Association of Career & Technical Administrators.
“Pennsylvania - I'm so proud of this - is a national leader to support this type of apprenticeship model and expanding apprenticeships across the Commonwealth,” said Carrie Amann, Executive Director of the PA Workforce Development Association. “Expanding apprenticeships requires a mindset shift from traditional employment models, and it really pushes this public-private partnership bound. And Pennsylvania is supporting this transformation.”