The U.S. Department of Labor has named Forsyth Technical Community College to its latest list of Apprenticeship Ambassadors.
The Biden Administration created the ambassadors program to expand and connect the institutions that provide education and on-the-job experience for prospective employees.
Forsyth Tech’s Learn & Earn program is now part of that effort.
Amy Davis-Moore is a former instructor at Forsyth Tech who now works for ApprenticeshipNC, an agency that works with the state’s 58 community colleges to develop a pipeline of workers for the state’s employers.
She says apprenticeship programs used to be known for skilled labor and manufacturing work. But with shortages across many job sectors, the need for programs like Learn and Earn has expanded.
“We’re working with early childhood education, we’re working with healthcare in the area of RN (nursing)," she says. "We have apprenticeship opportunities in areas that oftentimes aren’t thought of as apprenticeship roles.”
Davis-Moore says one of the goals of the ambassadors program is to increase job opportunities for women, people of color, and residents of rural areas.