The growth in skilled trade jobs and lack of a skilled labor force has placed significant pressure on continued economic development in the Kansas City region. It is clear there is a need for long-term, advanced training opportunities, a training that allows apprentices to “earn and learn” while businesses can retain employees. The Metropolitan Community College Apprenticeship Program (MCC Apprenticeship Program), a registered U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) program, realized this as a “win-win-win” scenario. Apprentices receive a college education while being paid, businesses’ needs for a skilled workforce pipeline is supported, and MCC increases certificate and degree program completion rates.
The objectives of the MCC Apprenticeship Program are:
- Serve students’ employment and experiential learning needs with paralleled application of in-class curriculum.
- Serve local industries’ skilled needs by sponsoring a registered U.S. Department of Labor structured program where all stakeholders benefit.
- Reduce student college debt by creating a fully encompassing program including full-wage and educational benefits.
Elevator Speech
The MCC’s modern apprenticeship program is “More than Learning.” This U.S. Department of Labor registered apprenticeship is a fully customizable program providing a chance for students “learn and earn” while giving businesses the opportunity to grow their own talent and increase employee retention.
MCC Apprenticeship Program Alignment to MCC Strategic Plan Goals
Strategic Theme: Student Success
Metropolitan Community College will make data-informed decisions that maximize student success and support excellence in innovation, teaching, learning, and student-centered support services for all learners at every stage of their lives.
Strategy for Apprenticeship Program
The MCC Apprenticeship Program directly answers the “student success and support excellence” strategic theme by applying stackable college credentials, industry certifications, and nationally recognized certificates such as the DOL Apprenticeship Certificate. It provides all learners at every stage of their lives the opportunity to achieve mastery in the skilled trades. In addition, there are strategic growth opportunities into Youth Apprenticeship, dual credit offerings, credit for prior learning, and a living wage while going through school.
Strategically, the MCC Apprenticeship Program intends to address the Strategic Theme: Student Success goal by means of:
- Emphasizing a student-centric approach; moving from a generalized student success method to a personalized approach through:
- Designing apprentice work-process schedules and related technical training meeting employers’ specific needs.
- Pairing each apprentice with an on-the-job mentor to create highly individualized training and support.
- Implementing pathways of student retention through:
- Offering full-time, paid employment and educational benefits.
- Building class schedules to coordinate business and apprentice work schedules.
- Establishing strong relationships with participating businesses through:
- Removing institutional barriers and creating wraparound services including enrollment services, book delivery, mentor training, and curriculum partnership to seamlessly support business needs.
- Offering credit and non-credit programs to create flexible business-specific apprenticeship programs.
- Scheduling yearly program reviews and apprentices’ progress updates.
- Planning events to engage both the businesses’ leadership and their apprentices.
- Tracking, reporting success on a quarterly basis to make any program adjustments deemed necessary.
- Creating new pipelines to increase job placement for MCC students looking for career opportunities and enhance supportive services in order to retain apprentices employed at their place of business.
Strategic Theme: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Metropolitan Community College recognizes our obligation to work toward equity and inclusion and to embody the values of access and excellence. We provide fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all.
Strategy for Apprenticeship Program
The Federal DOL Apprenticeship standards requires data tracking to maintain Affirmative Action Programs (AAPs) concerning race, sex, ethnicity, and AAP obligations for Individuals with Disabilities (IWD). The MCC Apprenticeship Program is required to report information provided by partner companies to DOL including total employees at facility, total minorities at facility, total women at facility, and journey workers/mentors or supervisors in the field being apprenticed. The reporting alone helps to add focus on offering the apprenticeship program to employees based on capability and capacity to learn rather than other objectives.
Strategically, the MCC Apprenticeship Program intends to address the Strategic Theme: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion goal by means of:
- Creating and fostering a respectful environment by establishing an exclusive apprenticeship office space that provides a safe environment for businesses and apprentices.
- Increasing equity in student success by informing participating businesses and their apprentices of available MCC programs and services through various communication tools and venues.
- Recruiting and retaining employees by working with regional programs like MARC, KC Degrees, Connections to Success, and others to increase a new pipeline of apprentices.
- Providing underrepresented students apprenticeship opportunities through collaborating and various other strategies to increase access for underserved individuals such as veterans, justice-involved individuals, women, and other minorities.
Strategic Theme: Resource Development and Alignment
Metropolitan Community College will increase our ability to sustain and meet current and future institutional priorities while maintaining our accountability to our stakeholders by ensuring sound financial practices through aligning budget and resources with the Strategic Plan.
Strategy for Apprenticeship Program
The apprenticeship program is established as a revenue generating partnership between the business, MCC, and other organizations. In addition, it has brought in several large grants and are constantly watching for additional grant opportunities.
Strategically, the MCC Apprenticeship Program intends to address the Strategic Theme: Resource Development and Alignment goal by means of:
- Adhering to strict, responsible spending by employing a system of checks and balances.
- Ensuring a process control by working with the MCC grants-finance and compliance office, legal office and others to provide quarterly narratives and financial reports
- Generating revenue by continuing to adhere to board-approved tuition
- Working with the MCC billing office each semester to establishing correct and timely business invoicing
- Leveraging the MCC Apprenticeship Program to expand enrollment
- Planning courses and coordinating with businesses on work schedules and course forecasting.
- Increasing enrollment by partnering with businesses and their incumbent workers into the program.
- Creating new and innovative Apprenticeship Work Process Schedules in order fit the needs of current and new markets.
Strategic Theme: Culture and Environment
Metropolitan Community College is committed to providing an atmosphere that promotes opportunities to learn in a complex, inclusive environment by valuing differences and fostering the civility and respect of faculty, staff and students, and investing in our culture and environment to enhance the educational value that will contribute to the institution’s success.
Strategy for Apprenticeship Program:
The MCC Apprenticeship Program ensures success of the program and MCC. This program works to enhance existing credit and non-credit MCC programs with additional services and certificates that meet employer and regional industry needs.
Strategically, the MCC Apprenticeship Program intends to address the Strategic Theme: Culture and Environment goal by means of:
- Promoting communication by creating multiple touchpoints with businesses to help disseminate important information on a consistent basis including emails, newsletters, in-person meetings, webinars, trainings, etc.
- Fostering collaboration across MCC divisions and departments- including the deans, faculty, finance, continuing education, student and enrollment services, etc., in order to ensure the overall success of MCC.
- Collaborating and executing events/opportunities with the support and involvement of both MCC and the community (i.e. WINS Breakfasts Employer Meet & Greet, National Apprentice Week, Crisis Webinar).
Strategic Theme: Structure and Processes
Metropolitan Community College will increase operational efficiency by improving internal structures and processes so that our college functions more smoothly to maximize student and employee success.
Strategy for Apprenticeship Program:
The apprenticeship program works across several MCC divisions and departments to ensure its success. The program would not achieve this without the support and collaboration of all involved. The more creative the collaboration, the more it helps enhance existing structures and processes, thereby creating efficiency and opportunity for the college. Obtaining board approval for a specific apprenticeship-per-credit cost is an example of this.
Strategically, the MCC Apprenticeship Program intends to address the Strategic Theme: Structure and Processes goal by means of:
- Developing operation processes by building an internal Operating Procedures Manual that can be shared across the district to assist in enhanced planning and decision-making.
- Providing supportive wraparound services for businesses and apprentices to more easily work with MCC.
- Aligning operating plans by building a strong overall program that can easily adjust to meet the dynamic needs of MCC and the community it serves.
- Maximizing use of technologies to organize and track MCC Apprenticeship data more easily within internal processes and with external resources.
Key Performance Areas (KPI’s):
MCC Strategic Plan KPI’s directly related to the apprenticeship program
- Improve student outcomes, disaggregated for these groups: gender; race, and ethnicity; and full-time or part-time
- Identify grants and/or external funding opportunities for MCC. (Baseline to be determined by October 15, 2017).
- Increase the percentage of the operating budget going to instruction by .5% in 2018-2019.
- Increase the percentage of the operating budget going to student services by .5% in 2018-2019.
- Identify grants and/or external funding opportunities for MCC. (Baseline to be determined by October 15, 2017).
Additional MCC Apprenticeship Specific KPI’s
1-year KPI’s (2020-2021)
- Add at least 20 to 30 registered DOL apprentices per semester for a total of 90 additional apprentices by summer 2021.
- Complete at least 15 total apprentices with either a degree or a certificate and Apprenticeship Completion Certificate.
- Increase employer engagement by adding an additional three to seven employers per semester to the program either through the MCC Apprenticeship Sponsorship or through their own DOL Apprenticeship Sponsorship.
- Develop a comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure document for internal use and ability to share with partner colleges across the state of Missouri.
- Develop a comprehensive “Train the Trainer” program that offers mentors non-credit transcription at MCC.
- Develop, adopt, and implement employer communication outreach marketing plan.
- Create pipeline opportunities for justice-involved individuals, veterans, youth opportunities, and other underserved populations.
3-year KPI’s (2023)
- Increase the total registered apprenticeship population at MCC to 350 apprentices.
- Have a completion rate of 50% for apprentices.
- Have every partner company operating with an apprentice’s continuity plan to create sustainability and a consistent flow of apprentices for the company.
- Become a financially self-sufficient program that is adding revenue to the overall MCC Operating Budget.
- Develop the underserved populations’ pipelines so that it makes up at least 25% of the total apprentice population at MCC.
- Expand the MCC Apprenticeship Program beyond manufacturing by adding programs in other high demand occupations such as healthcare and information technology.
- Develop a robust Student and Employer Match Program.