RA Works!
RA Works! promotes entry-level certificates articulating into Registered Apprenticeship opportunities as a viable, effective training option for dislocated workers. Through RA Works! the Department of Commerce will enhance existing partnerships with postsecondary institutions, industry experts and the state and local Workforce Investment Boards to recruit and train dislocated workers.
RA Works! will be used to expand opportunities for an interim certificate in the form of the Manufacturing Skills Certificate (MSC) and the Energy Process Industry Certificate (EPIC) when it becomes available.
RA Works! will help retrain dislocated workers with the aim of returning them to the workforce. The funds leveraged from RA Works! will pay the costs of related technical instruction (RTI) for any qualified dislocated worker entering into a Registered Apprenticeship in advanced manufacturing or energy industries (up to $1,250/year). The dislocated workers must be identified as such by WIA local office staff. WIA Local Area funds may be used for supportive services, as needed and appropriate.
RA Scholarships
The RA Scholarship program is available to companies and Joint Labor-Management programs that support the Department of Commerce’s critical industries and include Advanced Manufacturing, Aviation, Bio-Science/Animal Health, Energy, Professional Services and Value-Added Agriculture, as well as in Construction and Rural Business Succession.
The objective is to provide an incentive to hire WIA eligible adults, including dislocated and underemployed workers into Registered Apprenticeship opportunities. These opportunities will provide gainful employment with significant skill enhancement and excellent wage outcomes.
Under RA Scholarships, the program will provide up to $1,250 per year per apprentice toward the cost of Related Technical Instruction for the first two years of training for any qualified dislocated or underemployed individual. The dislocated/underemployed individuals must be identified as such by WIA local office staff. WIA Local Area funds may be used for supportive services, as needed and appropriate.
Early Childhood Associate Apprenticeship Program
The Early Childhood Associate Apprenticeship Program (ECAAP) was developed in 2000 through the USDOL Quality Child Care Initiative where states developed Registered Apprenticeship programs for the child care industry. Upon completion of the 3-year grant, the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services continued to provide funding to support ECAAP through their annual Child Care Development Block Grant.
ECAAP requires 20 early childhood college credit hours for the Related Technical Instruction component of the program and 4,000 hours of on-the-job learning provided by a center-based child care or preschool program or a family group home child care provider who meets all ECAAP sponsor eligibility requirements and develops and approves a set of program standards approved and registered by the Kansas Apprenticeship Council.
The program is built around the Core Competencies for Early Care and Education in Kansas and Missouri and requires the obtainment of the Child Development Associate (CDA), a nationally recognized early childhood credential, as an interim credential. Funding for registered apprentices covers books, fees and tuition for the required Related Technical Instruction from any of the 8 Kansas community colleges who are recognized ECAAP educational partners. (Barton County Community College, Butler Community College, Cowley Community College, Highland Community College, Hutchinson Community College, Johnson County Community College, and Kansas City Kansas Community College.) It also pays the $325 assessment fee for the CDA and bi-annual stipends to the mentors of each active apprentice.