More than 400 small business owners, company representatives and other critical workforce development partners attended the Apprenticeship In Motion (AIM) Program’s series of statewide summits over the past few weeks. National experts who participated in the summits believe West Virginia is heading in the right direction when it comes to expanding the apprenticeship model and closing the gap for its diversifying workforce.
“Our team was thrilled to be a part of this year’s Apprenticeship In Motion summits around the Mountain State,” said Michael Prebil, program manager for New America, a think tank that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States.
The summits, which took place across the state in April and May, trained companies and small businesses in the West Virginia on how to integrate the apprenticeship model into their human resource practices. Summit attendees heard from senior business leaders from across the country about why apprenticeship has been an effective training model in their workplaces.
Prebil continued, “Nationally, we’ve seen tremendous interest in expanding the apprenticeship model to meet the needs of our diversifying workforce. We’re so excited that West Virginians have seized this opportunity through their AIM program to serve as apprenticeship leaders on the national stage.”
AIM is the result of the cooperative teamwork of the West Virginia Development Office, West Virginia Department of Education, WorkForce West Virginia, the Robert C. Byrd Institute at Marshall University and the Community and Technical College System of West Virginia. The working group of partners identify, standardize and develop courses that are needed statewide to provide companies the tools and resources they need to integrate apprenticeship programs into their current training and human resources strategies.
The Apprenticeship In Motion (AIM) program is being funded through a grant obtained from the U.S. Department of Labor.
