Apprenticeships can be a great route to good jobs for traditionally underserved populations. Unfortunately, current participation does not reflect the American workforce, showing persistent gender, racial, and ethnic access gaps. Some programs are closing that gap through deliberate, research-based design choices — strategies that can be adapted across industries.

Join AFA and Randi Wolfe, PhD, for a webinar on the apprenticeship model developed by Early Care & Education Pathways to Success (ECEPTS). As a Registered Apprenticeship Sponsor in California and a national Industry Intermediary, ECEPTS designs programs around the strengths of its workforce — a population that is almost entirely women, largely women of color, and often recent immigrants, first-generation college students, and English language learners.

The ECEPTS model directly addresses the historic and socio-economic barriers these populations face in job training and higher education. We'll discuss specific design choices behind the approach and practical methods that have yielded consistently high retention and completion for over 1,950 apprentices to date — methods that can be easily adapted to other sectors aiming to engage underrepresented and non-traditional populations.