National Apprenticeship Week Celebrates Investing in New Hampshire’s Talent
Across the country businesses, education providers, and community organizations are gearing up to celebrate this year’s National Apprenticeship Week, November 12-18, 2018.
Organized annually by the US Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship, this week-long initiative focuses on showcasing Registered Apprenticeship programs across the country that aim to ensure our nation’s industries have the skilled workforce they need to continue to grow our economy. With a low unemployment rate and significant demand for skilled workers, New Hampshire is engaging in national initiatives like this as a way to demonstrate how training programs like apprenticeship are a model for success.
Planned events in New Hampshire will be robust, thanks in part to efforts at the Community College System of New Hampshire (CCSNH). Over the past two years, the Community College System’s ApprenticeshipNH program has used federal funding to help New Hampshire businesses to develop apprenticeship programs. These apprenticeships have been designed to meet the needs of the businesses and serve as a proven solution to challenges they have faced in hiring and retaining skilled employees. Overall, ApprenticeshipNH focuses on serving companies in healthcare, manufacturing, IT, construction and infrastructure, and hospitality, with most of the early apprenticeship creation primarily in healthcare and manufacturing.
Employers like Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, Safran Aerospace in Rochester, and Freudenberg-Nok in Bristol have leveraged ApprenticeshipNH’s expertise in developing apprenticeships. The NH residents engaged in apprenticeship programs receive paid, hands-on experience and on the job training, plus classroom instruction through their local community colleges. Some participants were previously unemployed or underemployed and lacked the financial resources to go back to school and seek education in order to start a new career. Others are incumbent employees who are provided upward mobility within the company, thereby increasing employee retention.
Based on our initial success, we know that apprenticeship has the potential to be a viable solution for responding to New Hampshire’s workforce challenges. We hope that you will consider joining us during National Apprenticeship Week this year as we use the initiative to champion apprenticeship and to thank our partners for the work that they do to invest in our people.
On Wednesday, November 14 from 9:30 am to 11:30 am, EFI Inkjet in Londonderry will host ApprenticeshipNH and the Community College System for a Partner Appreciation Event. In addition to recognizing our partners, we will share updates on our successes thus far. EFI will share information about their exciting new apprenticeship program, and will also offer tours of their impressive new manufacturing facility.
To learn more about this event and to RSVP, please visit https://ccsnh_partnerevent.eventbrite.com or call 603-230-3526.
Emily Zeien is the Grant Manager for the ApprenticeshipNH program, and has worked for CCSNH as part of this initiative for the past 18 months. Zeien, a long-time resident of New Hampshire is actively involved in a number of community initiatives including co-chairing New Hampshire’s AmeriCorps Alums chapter. She can be reached at ezeien@ccsnh.org or 603-230-3526.
