MEATA's 2018 Spring Apprenticeship Conference took place on May 22-25 at the Holiday Inn Resort West Bay Beach in Traverse City. This was MEATA's biggest conference ever, with around 180 people attending the event. The highlight of the conference was the very first Apprenticeship in a Day WORKShop during which a total of 12 companies/organizations completed AND registered their Standards of Apprenticeship with the U.S. Dept. of Labor in just a single day!

For a summary of the important accomplishments that happened at the event, please check out the Thank You Letter to Participants from MEATA Chair Janene Erne.

There were also tons of great presentations and learning sessions during the conference, including:

• Roger Curtis, Director of Michigan's Department of Talent and Economic Development, was Wednesday's Keynote Speaker and he unveiled Michigan's new Experience Sooner apprenticeship marketing campaign
• Non-traditional Programs with a Twist on Intermediary Credentials: Agriculture and Marine Technology
• A New Apprenticeship Opportunity for Artificial Intelligence Technicians
• Registered Apprenticeship for Workforce Development Specialists
• Women in the Trades
• Michigan's Talent Pipeline Management Efforts
• Everything Apprenticeship Providers Need to Know about EEO
• A spotlight on the Michigan Apprenticeship Steering Committee, Inc. (MASCI)
• Tours of L. Mawby Vineyards and Michigan Local Hops (a 200-acre hops farm)

Copies of a handful of the Powerpoint presentations and other documents from the conference are available for download from the site's Documents section.

A Google Photos album contains pictures from the Apprenticeship in a Day signings.

Here are some links to press coverage of the conference and the State of Michigan's unveiling of the Experience Sooner campaign:

• Article in the Traverse City Record Eagle
• Coverage on Channel 9 & 10 News
• UpNorthLive's coverage

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As part of the National Apprenticeship Week festivities in Michigan, MEATA held its 2017 Fall Drive-In Conference on Thursday, November 16th in the Bert Walker Hall Community Rooms on the campus of Jackson College (2111 Emmons Rd, Jackson, MI 49201).

Highlights of the conference included:

• Roger Curtis, director of Michigan's Department of Talent & Economic Development, discussed the new Michigan Career Pathways Alliance
• Attendees learned about the successful Downriver Career Technical Consortium CTE program in partnership with Henry Ford College and the UAW-Ford Flat Rock Assembly Plant
• Jackson College and Michigan's Dept. of Corrections shared details on how they are preparing returning citizens to become productive members of the workforce through the Prison Education Initiative and the Vocational Village program
• Jackson County's Career Readiness Taskforce spotlighted its efforts to drive quality CTE experiences and awareness of apprenticeships into 100% of the county's middle and high schools
• The day ended with a tour of the Jackson Area Career Center (across the street from Jackson College)

Copies of the conference presentations are available for download here!

And check out JTV's interview of Roger Curtis that was filmed at the conference.

The State of Michigan's new Going Pro campaign is getting the word out that there are great in demand jobs in advanced manufacturing, IT, construction, health care and more that don't require a four year degree. Check out the video below and then visit the Going Pro website for more videos and resources.

Alabama Public Radio recently ran an interview piece that focused entirely on apprenticeship as a pathway to great careers.

Participants included:

•  Nicholas Wyman, CEO of the Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation
• Ken Hitchcock, Director of the Pickens County Career and Technology Center in Liberty, South Carolina
• Christine Scullion, Director of HR Policy at the National Association of Manufacturing
• Cory McCray, a delegate from the Maryland House of Delegates and a former IBEW electrician apprentice
• Robert Lerman, Urban Institute fellow, founder of the American Institute for Innovative Apprenticeship, and professor emeritus of economics at American University.

Visit APR's site to listen to the interview.

New Equipment Digest ran an article on June 20th titled "Trench Warfare: How to Fight the Skills Gap". The article begins:

"All across the nation, we’re fighting the past: an aging infrastructure, a decaying education system, and outdated job stereotypes. Our future depends on us digging in and going to war with the skills gap."

The article touches on apprenticeship as a weapon to help fight that war. It also includes info on multiple initiatives and resources, like the Get Real Math! classroom videos created by the Northeast Wisconsin (NEW) Manufacturing Alliance to help teachers bring relevance to their math instruction.

 Read the full article here!

On June 15, President Trump signed an Executive Order meant to expand apprenticeships. Click here to read the text of the executive order.

Inside Higher Ed, which covers news of relevance to institutions of higher education, covered the Trump administration's apprenticeship push in a June 14 article titled "New Money and New Players on Apprenticeship". The article does a good job of covering the key points of the initiative. Read the full article here.

A June 18 article in Forbes covered the topic, noting "This New Trump Plan Could Be the Answer to Millennial Job Woes." Read the article here.

The Hill, a popular news source within the D.C. beltway, ran an article by Robert Lerman, founder of the American Institute for Innovative Apprenticeship, that concludes "The president's effors are a good start toward the long-run goals of shifting workforce policy toward successful apprenticeships and away from costlier and less effective programs." Read the full article here.