Nov 15

Empowering Inclusion through Apprenticeship

By National Apprenticeship Week (NAW)

From screen reader incompatibility to a lack of plain language, disabled people face a range of barriers when it comes to access and use of websites and other online platforms. In fact, in 2023, an analysis by WebAIM found that 96.3% of one million websites analyzed had accessibility failures. Despite widespread availability of best practice resources, many companies do not know how to improve digital accessibility. Moreover, many businesses lack knowledge and staff resources to meet accessibility standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). As a result, many qualified career seekers find it challenging, or even impossible, to attain or retain jobs and pursue career interests. This context presents a contributing factor to the persistently low labor force participation rate for working aged people with disabilities, which was 40.4% in 2022—compared to 78% for people without disabilities. RAPs offer a crucial solution on multiple levels. When RAPs are inclusive by design, these programs can help increase employment opportunities for disabled people across a range of industries. In the field of information technology, RAPs can especially have a multiplying effect. That impact reflects the current shortage of professionals…

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Oct 13
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Partnering to Develop IT Apprenticeships - How the Blind Institute of Technology Helped Salesforce Meet their Hiring Needs

By Apprenticeship for All Podcast

Episode 23: Partnering to Develop IT Apprenticeships - How the Blind Institute of Technology Helped Salesforce Meet their Hiring Needs Mike Hess, Founder and Executive Director at the Blind Institute of Technology (BIT), and Sarah Mark, Workforce Development Program Manager for People with Disabilities at Salesforce discuss their partnership to create career pathways in IT for people who are blind or have low vision and help Salesforce meet its demand for IT talent.

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Jul 20
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How Apprenticeship Programs Can Help Employers Recruit and Retain Diverse Talent

By Apprenticeship for All Podcast

Episode 22: How Apprenticeship Programs Can Help Employers Recruit and Retain Diverse Talent Donna Lenhoff, attorney, advisor, policy architect, and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) policy implementer, discusses the benefit of registered apprenticeships and the impact of public policy. She also weighs in on nondiscrimination regulations that support and encourage apprenticeship programs to recruit, train, and retain a diverse talent pool that includes people with disabilities.

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May 11
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Training Apprentices with Disabilities in Digital Accessibility

By Apprenticeship for All Podcast

Episode 21: Training Apprentices with Disabilities in Digital Accessibility David Fazio, Founder of Helix Opportunity, discusses employers’ growing need to hire digital accessibility experts. He shares how the Helix Opportunity Registered Apprenticeship Program is training apprentices with disabilities in digital accessibility to both address this need and create career pathways for people with disabilities in this in-demand field.

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Apr 13
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How to Customize Your Apprenticeship Recruitment & Training

By Apprenticeship for All Podcast
Episode 20: Emma MacLean and Marie Trudelle of Apprenti, a Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) Emma MacLean and Marie Trudelle of Apprenti, a Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP), share how the organization works directly with employers to help them develop their own inclusive RAP. In this episode, they discuss how Apprenti sources and trains apprentices for their employer partners and how to overcome barriers to creating accessible recruitment and training processes to support apprentices with disabilities. https://inclusiveapprenticeship.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Ep-394-PIA-Series-Feat-Emma_MacLean_and_Marie_Trudelle_with_Apprenti.mp3 Transcript Emma MacLean: [00:00:00.05] We estimate that about 20% of adults living in the U.S. have a disability. And if we're looking at a national average disclosure rate of only 3 to 5%, that's really troubling, that individuals do not feel comfortable bringing in disclosing that to work. But there are actionable things that organizations can do to change that. Intro: [00:00:22.30] Welcome to the Workology Podcast, a podcast for the disruptive workplace leader. Join host Jessica Miller-Merrill, founder of Workology.com as she sits down and gets to the bottom of trends, tools and case studies for the business leader, HR and recruiting professional who is tired of the status quo. Now here's Jessica with this episode of Workology....
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Apr 05

Transcript: Empowering Stories from Black Women in Inclusive Apprenticeships

By Apprentices

Return to Empowering Stories from Black Women in Inclusive Apprenticeships webinar page Hi everyone, welcome to our Empowering Stories from Black Women in Inclusive Apprenticeships today, on the last day of Black History Month. My name is Lauren Rabb, I’m a project manager here at the Partnership on Inclusive Apprenticeship. We’re really excited to have everyone joining us today. Just to let you all know a few things before I pass it off to my colleagues, this webinar is going to be recorded. We’ll be posting that recording and as well as the resources that we discuss on the PIA website in the coming days as well as on the Office of Apprenticeship website as well. We will do Q&A at the end. This is kind of a tight one-hour session that we have today, so I want to be sure we have time for everyone to hear the great stories from our panelists. But feel free to add your questions in the chat whenever it comes to your mind. But we probably won’t be addressing them verbally until the Q&A session at the end. There is live CART captioning available in this session if you go to the meeting controls toolbar at the bottom of your screen click on the Show Captions icon and…

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Mar 16
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Strengths-Based Practices to Support Neurodiversity at Work

By Apprenticeship for All Podcast

Episode 19: Strengths-Based Practices to Support Neurodiversity at Work In honor of Neurodiversity Celebration Week, March 13 – 19, Scott Michael Robertson, Ph.D., Senior Policy Adviser in the Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor, gives tips and advice for taking a strengths-based approach to supporting neurodiversity in the workplace. Robertson uses his personal experiences as an autistic man to illustrate his suggestions.

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Oct 20
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Not Your Grandfather’s Apprenticeship: Apprenticeships in Nontraditional Sectors

By Apprenticeship for All Podcast

Episode 17: Not Your Grandfather’s Apprenticeship: Apprenticeships in Nontraditional Sectors Joshua Johnson, Director of Jobs for the Future’s National Innovation Hub for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in Registered Apprenticeship, discusses the importance of promoting apprenticeship in nontraditional sectors, disability disclosure challenges, and his passion for National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM).

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Sep 15
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How Apprenticeships are Creating Career Opportunities for Veterans with Disabilities

By Apprenticeship for All Podcast

Episode 16: How Apprenticeships are Creating Career Opportunities for Veterans with Disabilities Nicholas Morgan, President of Adaptive Construction Solutions and military veteran, discusses how he built one of the nation’s most recognized workforce development companies and provided opportunities to high-growth, high-demand jobs for veterans with disabilities through apprenticeship.

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