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Our Grantees


PAYA Learning Hubs

Innovation Grantees

These partnerships are piloting innovative, locally driven strategies to improve persistence and completion among youth apprentices, particularly students facing barriers to participation and success.

Over a six-month period, these grantees will test creative solutions tailored to their communities while documenting lessons learned and promising practices. Grantees will share insights to inform and strengthen the broader youth apprenticeship field.

Berrien RESA

Berrien RESA logo

As a newly launched youth apprenticeship sponsor serving more than 24,000 students, Berrien RESA is piloting Pathways to Apprenticeship Success to help apprentices overcome barriers to participation. The partnership will provide transportation aid, starter kits, emergency funds, and individualized coaching to improve attendance, persistence, completion, and students鈥 sense of belonging.

Horizon Education Alliance

Horizon Education Alliance logo

Building on CareerWise Elkhart鈥檚 youth apprenticeship program, Horizon Education Alliance is piloting a leadership development initiative for second-year apprentices across nine career pathways. Through a combination of in-person workshops, digital learning, and parent and mentor engagement, the partnership aims to strengthen workforce readiness, self-advocacy, retention, and apprentices鈥 sense of belonging.

High School District 214

Center for Career Discovery High School District 214 logo

High School District 214 is home to Illinois鈥 largest youth apprenticeship program and is piloting a pathway for students enrolled in its Vanguard alternative high school. Through counselor-led coaching, paid work experiences, and dual-credit coursework, the partnership aims to identify effective strategies to help students facing barriers persist in and complete youth apprenticeships.

Idaho Business for Education

Idaho Business for Education logo

As Idaho鈥檚 statewide youth apprenticeship intermediary, Idaho Business for Education is launching a centralized Youth Apprenticeship Hub website to connect apprentices, employers, and program managers with financial, academic, and regional support resources. The online platform will also include financial literacy tools and help identify which resources are most effective at improving apprenticeship engagement and persistence.

Development Grantees

The partnerships are designing and launching a new youth apprenticeship pathway in their region that aligns with PAYA鈥檚 definition and principles for high-quality apprenticeship.

The support PAYA provides the Development Grantees鈥攊ncluding customized coaching, technical assistance, and a peer learning community with fellow grantees鈥攚ill help them achieve that goal and employ their first apprentices by the grant鈥檚 conclusion.

Ballad Academy EDGE Apprenticeship

Spanning across state lines in northeastern Tennessee, this partnership is developing a high school鈥恡o鈥恮orkforce apprenticeship dedicated to connecting the region鈥檚 rural and low鈥恑ncome students to high鈥恮age, high鈥恉emand careers in nursing. Students graduating with a CNA or LPN credential are offered a full鈥恡ime job at Ballad Health, one of the largest employers in the region, with flexibility to continue their classroom education by earning an associate鈥檚 or bachelor鈥檚 degree.

Education Service Center Region 13

Building on their successful electrician apprenticeship programs, ESC13 is developing a Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration (HVAC/R) youth apprenticeship program for high school students in the rural-urban area of Travis County, Texas. This career pathway will be supported by Austin Community College, Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association of Texas (PHCC), and Elgin Independent School District.

Educational Service District 123

Through the development grant, ESD123鈥檚 youth apprenticeship program is connecting students to careers in the education and early learning sector. This pathway will prepare students in southeastern Washington state for licensed roles in child care and pre-K classrooms in coordination with postsecondary programs at Columbia Basin College and Walla Walla Community College.

Alabama Youth Apprenticeship Accelerator

The Alabama Youth Apprenticeship Accelerator is led by the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship, the Alabama Community College System, and the Career Technical and Specialized Education Department of Florence City Schools. Together, they aim to expand their early childhood education registered apprenticeship program and develop new youth apprenticeship programs to connect high school students to careers in manufacturing, healthcare, and aerospace engineering.

Career Launch Rebuild WNC

Career Launch Rebuild WNC is a youth apprenticeship partnership developed in response to the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene, which brought historic flooding and landslides to North Carolina on September 27, 2025. The North Carolina Business Committee for Education is developing youth apprenticeship pathways in skilled trades and utilities to support construction and recovery efforts in the area.

Rural Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP)

Anchorage School District and the University of Alaska Anchorage are coordinating with the nonprofit, RurAL CAP, to develop K-12 teacher and early education youth apprenticeship pathways. RurAL CAP takes a holistic approach to serving low-income families across Alaska, offering child care options, outreach to unhoused individuals, and community-based substance abuse and suicide prevention strategies.

Sustainability Grantees

These partnerships, who have received PAYA funding in previous years, have proven to be leaders in the field鈥攕tanding up and successfully running youth apprenticeship programs in over a dozen industries.

Over the course of the 18-month grant period, these grantees will focus on developing and implementing strategies to scale and sustain high-quality youth apprenticeship. In addition to the grant award, these grantees receive customized technical assistance, capacity building, and peer-to-peer learning supports, including access to national education, business engagement, and workforce development experts.

ApprenticeshipNC

ApprenticeshipNC aims to help employers use registered apprenticeships to build and retain an adaptable, skilled, and effective workforce that meets their current and future needs.

They are implementing an innovative county ecosystem model that aligns K-12 schools, community colleges, workforce development boards, and employers across North Carolina to expand youth apprenticeship opportunities. By 2027, ApprenticeshipNC aims to register 6,660 new apprentices and 2,340 new pre-apprentices, while expanding registered apprenticeships across all 16 CTE pathways. ApprenticeshipNC is targeting the development of 35 county-level workforce ecosystems by 2029 and commits to increasing participation among women and BIPOC individuals by 10 percent. ApprenticeshipNC will run a first-of-its-kind competition across North Carolina with a goal of registering 150 youth apprentices in six months, with at least 20 percent from underrepresented groups.

Ascend Indiana

An initiative of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP), Ascend Indiana serves as a link between organizations, people, and programs to ensure all Hoosiers and all employers are equipped to thrive in Indiana鈥檚 evolving economy. Ascend is focused on building talent pathways, opening doors for more Hoosiers to find careers with Indiana employers through our online job-matching platform and collecting and disseminating qualitative and quantitative data that informs statewide workforce development strategies. As part of its mission to build talent pathways, Ascend Indiana is focused on expanding youth apprenticeship opportunities through a coordinated statewide approach, with goals to increase the total number of youth apprentices and reduce barriers for work-based learning for students and employers across the state.

Career Launch Chicago

Career Launch Chicago (CLC) is an innovative workforce development initiative led by City Colleges of Chicago that creates diverse pathways for high school students to explore and enter high-demand careers. Moving beyond traditional apprenticeships, CLC offers a spectrum of engagement opportunities. They have restructured student engagement to a portfolio approach targeting high school seniors interested in City Colleges, undecided students exploring college and career options, and students interested in trades and technical careers. CLC is expanding career exploration through adding makerspaces in high schools, reaching 500+ students annually, implementing a data-driven apprentice development system to capture monthly reflections across growth domains, and enhancing institutional alignment between City Colleges and apprenticeships.

Career Launch Kalamazoo

Career Launch Kalamazoo works with local businesses to create an equitable talent pipeline that enables Kalamazoo Public School students to achieve postsecondary education and workforce success through youth apprenticeship in education, advanced manufacturing, business services, skilled trades and professional trades, and information technology. With a state-of-the-art Career and Technical Center opening in May 2025, they are expanding recruitment for apprenticeship programs while broadening their scope to include KPS graduates up to age 24, recognizing that many graduates maintain connections with The Kalamazoo Promise and Kalamazoo Valley Community College after graduation. With strong interest and participation in the education sector, Career Launch Kalamazoo is prioritizing the expansion of their Teacher Apprenticeship program in addition to growing their Business Apprenticeship pathway, all while increasing access for underrepresented CTE and non-CTE students and providing resources to enhance career readiness.

ECEPTS

ECEPTS (Early Care and Education Pathways to Success), a project of Tides Center, advances the professional development and economic well-being of the early care and education workforce through apprenticeship, field building, and systems change. ECEPTS launched its first ECE Youth Apprenticeship program in Oakland in 2019, enabling high school students to earn Child Development Associate Teacher permits and continue to AA degrees with Lead Teacher Permits. The Oakland Youth Apprenticeship program continues to enroll students annually. ECEPTS is developing three new Youth Apprenticeship cohorts in partnership with Contra Costa County Office of Education and San Joaquin Delta College, enrolling approximately 30 new apprentices across three counties with paid summer training through expanded employer partnerships, including the YMCA, local school districts, and various Head Start sites.

Future Focused Education

Future Focused Education (FFE) is working to create systems that sustain healthier and more prosperous communities for those who need it the most. FFE builds on its successful X3 Internship Program to launch youth apprenticeships in healthcare and skilled trades, establishing seamless pathways from high school to careers that promote both apprentice and community prosperity. FFE is designing and launching a Statewide Behavioral Health Youth Council to register a Youth Peer Support Specialist (YPSS) Apprenticeship. FFE will increase Indigenous and rural participation in X3 NeXt and Youth Apprenticeships and enhance transition supports for students with disabilities to participate in X3 NeXt.

LAUNCH Apprenticeship Network

In partnership with the Foundation for California Community Colleges, LAUNCH Apprenticeship Network facilitates partnerships between industry, education, and workforce leaders to ensure residents of California have access to apprenticeships and education. As an intermediary and registered apprenticeship program sponsor, LAUNCH supports statewide and regional efforts between community colleges, K-12 school districts, and workforce boards. Specifically, within the Inland Empire of California, LAUNCH makes their region’s apprenticeship system accessible to youth by partnering with early-adopter industries in advanced manufacturing, automotive, education, healthcare, and information technology. They are building an effective pipeline connecting high school graduates to community college-based registered apprenticeships. LAUNCH will collaborate with IEConnect, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, and Riverside County Office of Education to establish scalable templates for expanding youth apprenticeship opportunities, increase enrollment directly from high school, and create more access points for opportunity youth.

PPL LEAP Youth Apprenticeships

Project for Pride in Living鈥檚 Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential initiative (PPL LEAP) identifies effective strategies for helping youth and young adults overcome challenges and succeed in school and at work by adapting evidence-based models to work for the unique needs and strengths of 鈥淥pportunity Youth.鈥 PPL LEAP is expanding its career readiness and career exposure offerings to launch a formal youth apprenticeship model with employer partners in glasswork, nonprofit operations, and green energy (solar and green construction, specifically). PPL LEAP aims to engage youth in their apprenticeship pathways using their structured Employer Engagement Wheel, and established a Youth Apprenticeship Committee from the LEAP Advancement Board to ensure youth voice in all program stages. This committee allows PPL LEAP to explore new industry pathway potential by assessing youth interest first and market landscape second.

Reach Higher Montana

Reach Higher Montana helps students make informed and inspired decisions about their futures. Reach Higher Montana is building on their work designing youth apprenticeship programs in Information Technology and Healthcare, developing implementation strategies for school districts, and convening statewide partners to create an expandable youth apprenticeship model. Reach Higher Montana will prioritize pre-apprenticeships and youth apprenticeships specifically in the healthcare sector partnering with Montana Health Network to provide certified nursing assistant training to students aged 16-24, establishing programs in new communities enrolling students in nursing registered apprenticeship programs. Reach Higher Montana will continue its partnership with the Rocky Boy Indian Health Center to expand pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship opportunities in allied health careers, with a specific focus on increasing the number of rural and tribal apprentices.

Learn more about MYAP .

Say Yes Buffalo

Say Yes Buffalo partnership works to remove barriers to educational attainment, workforce participation, and economic mobility for students in public and charter schools in Buffalo, NY.鈥疭ay Yes Buffalo utilizes youth apprenticeship opportunities as a critical pathway in their cradle-to-career strategy. With a focus on serving historically underrepresented youth鈥攑articularly students of color, Native American students, and those from economically disadvantaged households鈥攖hey aim to grow career on-ramps that include apprenticeships, direct hire, and other earn and learn pathways by 150 annually by 2030. Say Yes Buffalo is also expanding their industry focus to include culinary arts, healthcare, and skilled trades, with pathways now customized to sector-specific needs. To ensure program quality and equity, they are implementing structured employer training on supporting young talent while developing a sustainability and growth plan to ensure long-term viability.

To view an interactive map and learn more about the PAYA Grantees and Network, click聽here.