AAI Support Team Coronavirus Response and Assistance:
- A Message from the U.S. Department of Labor: As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, we want to thank you for your due diligence and inquiries. We are here to support you and understand the concerns and uncertainty you may be experiencing surrounding the COVID-19. Guidance will soon be forthcoming about how to administer the grant during this pandemic. We have received questions and heard concerns surrounding the continuation of services, adopting new service delivery methods, how performance requirements will be considered, budget modifications, travel, staffing, how to record service disruptions. These are valid questions and concerns, and we will be sharing information for all grantees in the near future. In the meantime, we ask that you prioritize the health and wellbeing of yourself, your family, your staff, and the individuals you serve. If you are currently taking measures to adjust or suspend services, please let us know as soon as possible, and please keep your communication lines open to us. If necessary, please defer to your organization’s and local communities’ policies and the situation on the ground. Again, safeguarding your health and safety is our number one concern.
- Please see the following Covid-19 related resources:
- Visit Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) site for information on Covid-19 and community resources.
- OSHA has also published information on keeping workplaces safe at https://www.dol.gov/coronavirus.
- Unemployment Insurance Information (Federal Employees, Ex-Service members, Disaster Relief, Trade Readjustment allowances, and self-employment assistance https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/aboutui.asp
- A Message from the NGA Center: NGA launched the Coronavirus: What You Need To Know website to keep Governors and states informed of the current state of the coronavirus in states and abroad, steps states and the federal government are taking to address the coronavirus, and a litany of additional resources, including actions taken by state workforce and education agencies. To support this effort, NGA has launched an internal task force that brings together NGA leadership, the Office of Government Relations, and representatives from each division within the NGA Center for Best Practices.
- To provide and share timely information and coordinate activities within the Economic Opportunity division, Rachael Stephens has been made the point of contact and serves on the internal NGA task force. In this role, she can help connect you with more information and with other states for whom you have specific questions. If you have any questions or would like more information about efforts to mitigate the novel coronavirus and ensure economic well-being for workers and businesses, please contact Rachael at rstephens@nga.org.
- Please see the following Covid-19 related resources:
Upcoming NGA Events: (Please note that further details and information about other events can be found on the COP calendar)
- AAI Learning Network Call – April 7 from 3-4pm
- This Learning Network call will provide AAI grantee team leads the opportunity to discuss both effects of the coronavirus on their work and the recently released IRAP Final Rule. An agenda and dial-information will be available closer to the event.
- For more information on upcoming AAI events, please see the AAI Community of Practice calendar.
AAI Reminders and Other Announcements:
- Please send any reporting issues regarding Appian to IThelp@dol.gov.
- The AAI Community of Practice (COP) has an extensive amount of resources on apprenticeship developed by NGA Center, AAI grantees and external partners. After September 2020, the site will no longer be active. Many of the resources are cross-referenced on public website like WorkforceGPS, but we encourage AAI grantees to browse and save relevant non-public resources that you may want to refer to after the grant period ends. Please email Kristin Baddour at kbaddour@nga.org if you have any questions.
Apprenticeship Resources:
- On March 11, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (US-DOL) published a Final Rule to establish a system for advancing the development of high-quality, industry-recognized apprenticeship programs (IRAPs).
- You can learn more about IRAPs in these materials created by the US-DOL.
- Apprenticeship Inclusion Models (AIM): Expanding Career Pathways for People with Disabilities is an initiative sponsored by the USDOL Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) to research, develop, test, and evaluate innovative strategies in existing apprenticeship programs that provide skills training to people with disabilities. They are hosting a webinar on March 31 on making apprenticeship programs more inclusive, with a look at successful strategies around universal design, accessibility, and holistic wraparound supports.
- American Can Skill Up Unemployed Workers Today for Tomorrow’s Jobs (Urban Institute): Efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19 have shut down much of American production, led to massive layoffs and reduced hiring, and endangered many American businesses. The scale of the lost output, revenues, and wages is unprecedented. Replacing workers’ lost incomes through unemployment insurance (UI) and offering concessionary loans to businesses suffering extraordinary revenue losses are needed but have little impact on the declining production of goods and services. They’re a stopgap, not the solution. What can be done, especially for businesses and workers not lucky enough to generate production, sales, and incomes through remote operations? It might sound counterintuitive, but now—during the COVID-19 crisis—is the best time for investing in skills.
Apprenticeship in the News:
- Congress gets a Proposal to Spend $400 Million on Creating More Apprenticeships (Hechinger Report): Hoping to increase apprenticeships beyond the approximately 585,000 that exist now, Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA) is advocating for the first-ever reauthorization of the National Apprenticeship Act. The proposed bill calls for an expansion of pre-apprenticeship and youth apprenticeship programs, more diversity within apprenticeship programs, streamlining the standards for programs, and more.
- Young, Capito Introduce Early Educators Apprenticeship Act (Ripon Advance): U.S. Senators Young and Capito introduced bipartisan legislation that would authorize the award of grants to develop, administer and evaluate early childhood education apprenticeships.
- Employers Need to Maintain Workforces to Prepare for After the COVID-19 Slowdown (Tech Republic): Reskilling through modern apprenticeships remains important, despite the coronavirus, and companies could be making a costly mistake if they don’t prepare for when the economy returns to normal.
- How Digital Apprenticeships Can Help Employees Thrive in the Age of AI (Forbes): A network-based apprenticeship model offers massive knowledge distribution to help even a novice who is learning a task from afar. When deployed at scale, it is a massive business opportunity that gives companies access to talent outside its traditional hiring centers.
