“Through the Youth Manufacturing Skills Pilot (YMSP), the [California Workforce Development Board] proposed to build upon and elevate promising models such as the [Career Advancement Academies]… to a heightened level of collaboration between the State’s public education and workforce systems. The intentional leveraging of these systems’ resources, capacities and expertise may hold the key to scaling and sustaining bridge programs, building a training pipeline vital to the future of growth industries such as advanced manufacturing.”
Building Bridges to College and Careers Through Public Education and Workforce System Collaboration: Lessons from California’s Youth Manufacturing Skills Project
In 2013, the California Workforce Development Board (State Board) granted funds to four partnerships of local workforce development boards and educational providers to design and implement innovative pilot programs that “bridge” 18-24 year olds to careers in advanced manufacturing. The grants leveraged the strengths of the public education and workforce systems to equip underrepresented youth with industry skills, credentials, and hands-on work experience, developing the future workforce vital to our State’s economic growth.
In this new Issue Brief produced by the State Board and the Career Ladders Project, Building Bridges to College and Careers Through Public Education and Workforce System Collaboration: Lessons from California’s Youth Manufacturing Skills Project, we describe effective practices tested by these bridge programs and the State Board that address the needs of industry and of students. We also summarize emergent policy recommendations to strengthen and expand bridge opportunities for California’s youth.