Wayne County Community College District Chancellor Dr. Curtis L. Ivery Appointed To National Apprenticeship, Workforce Development Task Force Initiative

DETROIT, Feb. 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD) Chancellor Dr. Curtis L. Ivery has been appointed to a national task force whose mandate is to help train 16,000 apprentices across 80 colleges over a three-year period. The task force is a part of the Expanding Community College Apprenticeships (ECCA) initiative, launched by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the U.S. Department of Labor.

In addition to the AACC and the U.S. Dept. of Labor, the initiative aims to work with large businesses from the private sector to develop new apprenticeship models, or expand existing programs to train 4,000 apprentices over three years. An additional 80 colleges across the nation would be selected to train an additional 12,000 apprentices over the same time period. Vehicles to share the most up-to-date information between business and industry on apprenticeship training and work-and-learn opportunities will also be created.

The Task Force on Community College Apprenticeships will identify, validate, and promote successful apprenticeship models and work-based learning programs that can be rapidly ramped up into full programs across sectors and regions. The task force may further serve as incubators for testing models, programs, and metrics.

"I am honored to be appointed to a task force that is focused on expanding access to vital workplace education and creating tens of thousands of rewarding jobs across the nation," Ivery said. "Our mission has always been to help people create better lives through higher education – this program fits well within that mission, and promises to help provide a highly skilled workforce for our region."

Apprenticeships differ from other forms of workplace educational initiatives as they offer customized, hands-on training that is tailored to the specific needs of industry and business. Apprentice programs tend to result in increased knowledge, tying together classroom training with on-the-job learning, a safer workplace, and enhanced employee retention.

About 91 percent of apprentices that complete an apprenticeship are still employed with little to no educational debt nine months later, according to the U.S. Department of Labor statistics.

WCCCD is the largest urban community college district in the state with six campuses that span 500 square miles and serve nearly 70,000 credit and non-credit students.

Under Ivery's leadership, WCCCD created more than 120 workforce development, career and academic programs to help retrain workers for new careers in emerging sector industries.

Ivery has assembled academic, community, business and government leaders at the table across a series of roundtables, think tanks and conferences to develop real-world strategies to expand educational equity and economic mobility in our region, and throughout the nation.

SOURCE Wayne County Community College District