Trident Technical College, Charleston Area Urban League, and Bank of America Partner to Celebrate National Apprenticeship Week and Expand Apprenticeship Programs

Press Release

The U.S. Department of Labor is celebrating its 8^th annual National Apprenticeship Week, November 14-18, and highlighting several key themes throughout the week, including Pre-Apprenticeship and Youth Apprenticeship on Tuesday, November 15, 2022. Trident Technical College is participating in the celebration by co-hosting a webinar called “Collaborate, Don’t Compete: Developing High-Quality RTI for Youth Apprenticeships” with Berkeley County School District. The webinar is aimed at providing best practices for institutions throughout the United States that want to implement or improve their own youth apprenticeship programs. 

“Youth apprenticeship programs have power, the power to change lives in remarkable ways and the power to accelerate our economy and build strong communities,” Trident Technical College President Dr. Mary Thornley said. “Trident Technical College and our partners in the Charleston, SC region have seen tremendous successes as a result of our collective commitment to building and providing these high-quality educational opportunities for youth. As a USDOL Apprenticeship Ambassador, we are passionately committed to expanding these opportunities within our community, to sharing this vision with others, and to promoting and supporting the development of youth apprenticeship programs in other communities across the nation.”

Since its creation in 2014, local employer partners in the Charleston Regional Youth Apprenticeships (CRYA) have hired 535 youth apprentices. In 2022 90 CRYA apprentices were hired by Charleston area businesses. Beginning with 13 youth apprentices spread across six employer partners in a single career training pathway in 2014, CRYA now works with more than 180 employer partners to offer 18 separate career training pathways. The rigorous two-year program typically sees significantly higher completion rates compared to traditional students enrolled in the same certificate programs at Trident Technical College.

Trident Technical College and Charleston Area Urban League have partnered to expand participation in youth apprenticeships, especially among minority and historically underserved students. Charleston Area Urban League’s youth employment and pre-apprenticeship programs complement those of Trident Tech and other technical colleges across South Carolina by educating high school students about the opportunities that apprenticeships can offer and building a pipeline of strong candidates for apprenticeships.

“The Urban League aims to help historically underserved students to achieve a higher quality of life and earning power to more productively compete in the economic mainstream as qualified employees through apprenticeships,” said Charleston Area Urban League President and CEO Otha Meadows. “With support from partners like Bank of America and our collaborative efforts with Trident Technical College – and the entire South Carolina technical college system, we increase our collective impact as we work toward a common goal of creating economic opportunities for area youth.”

The coordinated efforts of the Charleston Area Urban League and Trident Technical College are aligned with those of Bank of America’s support of youth employment and workforce development programs in local communities. To further the impact of the apprenticeship programs building and maintaining a youth employment pipeline, the bank has awarded $30,000 in grant support of Trident Technical College’s expansion of youth apprenticeship programs and pathways. The bank also awarded Charleston Area Urban League $25,000 for student education and recruitments as part of the pre-apprenticeship program.

“Bank of America is committed to investing in organizations like Trident Technical College and Charleston Area Urban League that are joining the bank’s efforts to advance racial equality and economic opportunity,” said Mark Munn, President of Bank of America Charleston / Hilton Head. “Supporting youth employment and workforce development programs like apprenticeships is just one way the bank helps build job skills and create opportunities to help people succeed in today’s and tomorrow’s economy.”

National Apprenticeship Week is a nationwide effort by industry, labor, equity, workforce, education, and government leaders showcasing the successes and value of Registered Apprenticeship for re-building our economy, advancing racial and gender equity, and supporting underserved communities.

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