We need to encourage more people, particularly the young, to enter apprenticeship programs. They provide one of the best ways for young people to get into “living wage” professions.
I have been attending monthly FISH meetings for over a year. The FISH Partner Network is a non-profit organization comprised of donors who respond to requests for emergency assistance that have been screened by social workers or other aid organizations and submitted to FISH.
Where to get local help for a hardship?
I have been not only amazed at the generosity of the many organizations affiliated with FISH who are willing to give people in need a handout to meet the emergency needs.
But the difficulty many have is knowing where to begin to get help. I was told the best entryways into this amazing network are the county social workers in the Health and Human Services Department of Scott County, the CAP Agency or other organizations such as Mi Casa. They will direct you to the specific organization that can provide the type of help needed in each situation.
How to get a “hand up” instead of a “hand out?”
Helping someone in an emergency is great, but what can be done to prevent this from happening on a recurring basis? How do we get people in a more self-sustaining position? When I met with the social worker at Scott County, I learned that for people receiving public assistance there is not only a compliance factor regarding doing a minimum per week hours looking for a job, enrolling in a job training program or in a recovery program from an addiction, but also a huge advising effort to link a person to a training program that will improve their financial situation long term. The intensity of the advising in some cases approaches a mentoring or coaching level, the kind of support many need to change imbedded life habits.
Union and Private Sector Apprenticeship Programs Help Lead to a Living Wage
A search on chatgpt.com provided the insight that a program that contains both an actual job with long term mentoring is the surest way to get to a relatively highly paid professional position. A prime example of this combination are the union apprenticeship programs. I toured the Northern Midwest Regional Council of Carpenters training facility and left convinced that apprentices coming out of their program would be able to produce high quality workmanship and products. But, unions are not the only apprenticeship programs available. Minnesota lists registered apprenticeship opportunities in:
- Electrician
- Plumbing
- HVAC
- Carpentry
- Operating Engineer
- Welding / Mechatronics
- Manufacturing
- Healthcare
- Dental Assisting
- Business Administration
- Community Health Work
- Teaching (registered teacher apprenticeship)
So apprenticeship in Minnesota is broader than “building trades.”
The downside of many of these programs is that to qualify, you must first be hired by a company. Some people take training in their area of interest to boost their chances of being hired. According to the MN Department of Labor and Industry, Minnesota recognizes Apprenticeship Preparation Programs that help people become competitive for entry into registered apprenticeships.
This helps workers by:
- readiness training
- credential attainment
- support services
- employer pipeline connections
This is especially useful for people without prior trade exposure. The Academies of Shakopee at the Shakopee High School also can be a help getting a high school graduate to get started. Community college certificate programs also are paths to good employment.
We need to support these apprenticeship program efforts, as ways to give youth, displaced workers or low wage earners a hand up to self-sufficiency. There is some funding from the federal government that should be leveraged to expand the state’s apprenticeship infrastructure.
This aligns with my beliefs that:
- People need to obtain real skills and knowledge needed in the workplace to be financially successful and
- We as taxpayers have the right to expect people who need assistance to do whatever they can to help themselves. (Recognizing that there are some who have great difficulty in doing so, in which case they need help tapping into the abilities they do hare or recovering from the infirmities and/or addictions they currently experience.)
I strongly believe that people have enormous abilities that often are not properly recognized.
