INDIANAPOLIS, Ind (June 25, 2022) – This morning at Ivy Tech Community College –  Indianapolis, 37 Central Indiana high school sophomores signed the Modern Apprenticeship certificate of acceptance to work as apprentices for 29 local employer partners*, launching the second cohort of EmployIndy’s Central Indiana youth apprenticeship program. 

Modern Apprenticeship is a three-year program that offers many pathways to success by ensuring Central Indiana high school students have the fundamental skills they need to thrive in growing 21st-century industries like financial services, business operations, healthcare, information technology, and more. EmployIndy, Marion County’s workforce development board, and Ascend Indiana, the talent and workforce development initiative of Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP), actively support the apprentices, employers, and general programmatic outcomes for Modern Apprenticeship.

The Modern Apprenticeship program is the highest-caliber experience offered through Talent Bound, EmployIndy’s work-based learning continuum that connects Marion County students to local employers, ensuring that the young adults in the Indianapolis area are empowered to discover their passions and strengths while learning the needs of today’s workforce. Youth apprenticeships prepare students for their future by providing them with in-demand skills and relevant job experience so they can thrive in a fast-changing job market.

“Modern Apprenticeship has placed nearly 40 youth apprentices to date, with the goal of connecting 60 apprentices to employers by the fall,” says Marie Mackintosh, chief strategy officer at EmployIndy. “We are so excited to watch Cohort two grow as each apprentice enters into this next chapter of their personal and professional life.”

These apprentices were chosen from over 100 applicants to join the students already participating in Modern Apprenticeship. Beginning their junior year of high school, apprentices split their time between the classroom and the workplace. Upon completion of the Modern Apprenticeship program, these apprentices will earn a high school diploma, college credits, and an industry-recognized credential while obtaining invaluable social capital that multiplies their professional and personal postsecondary options.

“Alongside Modern Apprenticeship, Ascend convenes a Youth Apprenticeship Community of Practice, which consists of 60 organizations and serves to identify barriers to starting and scaling modern youth apprenticeship programs statewide,” says Stephanie Bothun, vice president of consulting at Ascend Indiana. “Together with EmployIndy, we are opening doors for Indiana students to education and career pathways that will lead to good jobs for their future, while also creating a new talent pipeline for employers.”

Modern Apprenticeship’s 2022 Signing Day signifies the beginning of the apprentice and employer journey as they signed a formal certificate of acceptance. As part of this commitment, the employer will mentor and support the student as they navigate an in-demand role within the respective organization. Through their participation in Modern Apprenticeship, these employers have signaled a strong commitment to being co-producers of talent alongside education partners. 

“The typical four-year degree is a good pathway for some, but Indiana is home to many other forms of higher education that provide more equitable options to achieve a postsecondary degree or credential,” says Chris Lowery, commissioner at the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. “The skills that young people learn through apprenticeship go beyond that of a classroom to provide real-world experience in high-demand industries and roles. These experiences will strengthen their statures as accomplished candidates for the in-demand jobs of the future.”

As a talent strategy, Modern Apprenticeship helps employers tap into diverse pools of young talent and build strong talent pipelines to meet their short- and long-term staffing needs. The program creates a structure for employers to be part of workforce solutions while removing barriers so that all Marion County students have equitable access to career-ready training and jobs in high-demand fields. Young talent is able to enrich their career-ready skills and job experience while, simultaneously, allowing businesses to identify, train, and retain job candidates as they progress from entry-level jobs to highly skilled positions.

To learn more about Modern Apprenticeship (MAP), visit www.indymodernapprenticeship.com.

*Participating Employers:

• Arcamed
• Ascend Indiana 
• Ascension St. Vincent
• At Your School, Inc. (AYS)
• Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP)
• Community Health Network
• Eli Lilly
• EmployIndy 
• Eskenazi Health
• Five Star Technologies
• GEMCO
• Indianapolis Airport Authority
• Indy Chamber
• IPS
• Lenex Steel
• Lutheran Child and Family Services (LCFS)
• OneAmerica
• Plastic Recycling 
• Republic Airways
• Shiel Sexton
• Markle Foundation
• City of Indianapolis
• Merchants Bank
• Wayne Township
• Indiana Sports Corporation
• Roche
• The Heritage Group
• HiTech Foam
• Peerless Pump

Participating Indianapolis-area Township School Districts and Charter Schools: 

• Ben Davis High School
• Ben Davis University High School 
• Arsenal Tech High School
• George Washington High School
• Victory College Prep
• Christel House Academy
• Pike High School
• North Central High School
• Purdue Polytechnic High School 

About EmployIndy

EmployIndy guides the local workforce ecosystem and makes strategic investments to remove barriers to quality employment for underserved and underrepresented residents. Our vision is for all Marion County residents to have access to services and training necessary to secure a livable wage and grow in a career that meets employer demand for talent. As the workforce development board for Marion County, guided by 26 business, civic, education, and nonprofit community leaders, EmployIndy invests over $20 million in public, private and philanthropic funds for both youth and adults annually. Learn more at employindy.org.

About Ascend Indiana

An initiative of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP), Ascend Indiana is committed to making Indiana a place of economic opportunity for all. Ascend connects job seekers to good and promising career opportunities through an innovative job-matching platform, the Ascend Network; catalyzes partnerships and provides consulting services to meet high-demand workforce needs through Ascend Services; and conducts research through Ascend Insights to enable systems-level change that positively impacts individuals throughout the state. To learn more, visit ascendindiana.com.   

On Tuesday, June 14th, over 60 students, family, and friends gathered at the Indianapolis Zoo for the 2022 Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) Senior Send-Off, which honors Marion County JAG students for completing programming during the 2021-22 school year. JAG is a state-affiliated program based on a national model, available to juniors and seniors in high school that teaches them resume building, career exploration, and creates available tools for students to explore different curricula. JAG’s mission is to keep young people in school through graduation and provide work-based learning experiences that will lead to career advancement opportunities, or to enroll in a postsecondary institution that leads to a rewarding career.

“We are thrilled to honor the graduating JAG class of 2022,” said Beth Bowling, Director of K-12 at EmployIndy. “These students have persisted in overcoming more challenges than generations of students before them. We can’t wait to see the exciting achievements we know this class will complete by reaching the academic and career goals they established through JAG.”

The Senior Send-Off also provided Marion County JAG students with the opportunity to participate in prize raffles and further connect with their assigned JAG specialist. All enrolled JAG students are provided a specialist to help them work towards removing educational barriers that may prevent them from graduating or pursuing a particular post-secondary or employment pathway after high school. 

​​“One of the great parts of JAG is the follow-up support,” said Crispus Attucks JAG senior James Vann-Mincy, who also emceed the event. For a full year after graduation, JAG students receive support and contact from their specialists and the JAG team, to offer assistance as they transition into the workforce and/or elect to further their education.

During the event, two JAG seniors were honored with the Jessica Brown Memorial JAG Award. DaShaun Russell from True North Academy and Nevaeh Smith from Shortridge High School received this distinction, which recognizes excellence throughout the program year and offers a $1,000 award from EmployIndy to help them continue in their academic and career goals.

Thank you to our wonderful JAG sponsors, Duke Realty, The Indiana National Guard, and Regions Bank, as well as our partnering organizations EmployIndy, The Indiana Department of Workforce Development, and Transition Resources Corporation, for helping make this event possible.

You can learn more about Jobs for America’s Graduates in Marion County by visiting: https://employindy.org/youth-services/jag.

EmployIndy Business Development Manager Tracy Hartman secured a booth for the EmployIndy Business Partnerships team at the recent Indiana Mineral Aggregate Association (IMAA) winter trade show at Indianapolis’s JW Marriott on January 31 and February 1 of 2022. 

In existence since 1934 and a supporter of Women Leaders in Mining & Aggregates (WLMA), “The purpose of the Indiana Mineral Aggregates Association,” according to its website, “is to solve common problems of the Indiana aggregate producing industry, principally in the areas of specifications for aggregates, mine safety, and reclamation, air and water pollution, legislation, research for improvements in aggregates used, increased public awareness of the importance of aggregate products in their daily lives, and broadening the use and application of aggregates in Indiana.” 

Aggregates are minerals, gravel, sand, slag, and broken or crushed stone, the likes of which “are essential construction materials for residential and commercial development, as well as for improvements to infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, dams, hospitals, schools, and water/sewer systems.” For EmployIndy’s interests, these industries “employ approximately 2,300 workers” across the state, and—according to, again, the website, “pay almost $100 million in wages.” 

“We spoke to multiple organizations located in Indianapolis and surrounding counties and were also able to turn the event into a great team-building exercise,” Hartman said. 

Hartman in particular could be seen enticing attendees to the swag-filled EmployIndy booth and adding to the team’s fun with a trick of her own: brownie delivery, as cool and efficient as the best restaurant workers in Indianapolis. 

Other EmployIndy attendees included Business Development Managers Connie Harris and Wendy Parker,  as well as Account Managers Trish McDonald and Chris Schumerth.

The business partnerships team was able to connect with a number of organizations that included but were not limited to the following:

• Martin Marietta
• Irving Material
• General Drilling, Inc.
• MacAllister Machinery Co., Inc.
• Brandeis Machinery & Supply Company
• US Aggregates
• Xylem
• Rudd Equipment Company
• Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc.

IMAA Executive Director Calvin Lee was one who wandered over to the EmployIndy table with some intentionality, wondering if and how EmployIndy may be able to help his organization identify worthy recipients for the IMAA scholarship program. 

A discussion also transpired around how EmployIndy might be able to occupy some space in the IMAA quarterly newspaper in the near future. The groundwork has been set for even for partnership across Marion County.

To request EmployIndy's participation in your next workforce development event or to learn more about how your organization can partner with EmployIndy, visit employindy.org/business-partnerships.