INDIANAPOLIS — Ascend Indiana is awarding four grants to help Indiana youth get on-the-job training.
The grants are going to the Indiana Youth Apprenticeship Accelerator, including the West Central Indiana Career and Technical Education Center in Crawfordsville, Eastern Indiana Works in Muncie, the Southern Indiana Education Center in Jasper and Southern Indiana Works in New Albany.
Each of the four centers will be getting $175,000 to launch youth apprenticeship pilot programs.
Each of the centers has collaborated with local businesses and schools to identify jobs that are growing in their area. The four occupations identified in the program are:
- Healthcare
- Advanced manufacturing
- Information technology
- Education
The West Central Indiana program will focus on healthcare, where they are building out their Pre-Nursing Youth Apprenticeship experience for students interested in working in the healthcare industry.
“These four sites have identified industries and career pathways that are meaningful to their local communities, and I am eager to see their programs become available to local students and employers,” said Brad Rhorer, president and CEO of Ascend Indiana. “Indiana is leading the nation in building a system to support the development and delivery of youth apprenticeship programs statewide and these sites are part of that statewide movement.”
The Indiana Youth Apprenticeship Accelerator includes eight sites covering 42 counties in Indiana.
Nearly 500 young people have participated in the programs since they were launched in 2021. Now, there are 40 school partners and 95 employers in various industries engaged with the program.
Ascend is part of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP). The organization runs a job matching program that helps connect people with promising career opportunities in Indiana.