Upward Apprenticeship Initiative: Supporting Apprenticeship Intermediaries and Community Colleges
Too many people are shut out of good jobs that provide stable wages and opportunities to advance. Apprenticeship is one of the most proven pathways to higher earnings and long‑term career success, yet participation remains low, and too many apprentices do not complete their programs. These challenges persist not because apprenticeship doesn’t work, but because systems struggle to expand employer participation, support apprentices through completion, and use data to understand where learners disengage.
Apprenticeship is one of the most powerful pathways to good jobs—yet it remains underused and out of reach for too many adults. The Upward Apprenticeship Initiative creates an opportunity to generate evidence and scale practices that expand impact.
- Christina Yancey, Vice President
Funded by Ascendium, AIR is taking on the challenge of addressing these barriers through the Upward Apprenticeship Initiative. This initiative strengthens the systems that shape how apprenticeship works in practice. It combines evidence‑based technical assistance with applied research to help employers, intermediaries, and community colleges scale programs, improve recruitment and retention (especially of adults from low‑income backgrounds), and use data to better support apprentices from entry through completion.
Our Work
The Upward Apprenticeship Initiative is a multiyear effort to expand the reach and impact of apprenticeship, especially for low income adults, by strengthening the systems and practices that shape how high quality apprenticeship programs are created, accessed, and completed, all while helping employers better meet workforce needs.
We will focus on two high-leverage partners whose roles are critical to expanding and sustaining apprenticeship:
- State and local intermediaries, which support employers in launching and growing apprenticeships, strengthening partnerships, and expanding access for more learners.
- Community colleges, which are positioned to build, deliver, and sustain apprenticeship programs and to improve learner outcomes through stronger data practices and wraparound supports that promote recruitment, retention, and completion.
Our three key activities include:
Discovery to gather on-the-ground insights from employers, apprentices, and leaders to clarify needs, validate priorities, and shape useful technical assistance tools and materials.
Strengthening Apprenticeship Intermediaries (SAI) through learning cohorts that support state and local intermediaries in expanding apprenticeship programs and improving learner access so more can enter and succeed.
Success Through College Apprenticeship and Learning Experience (SCALE) by conducting a learning cohort to help community colleges strengthen recruitment, retention, and completion through improved data collection and learner supports that address apprentices’ needs.
