WIOA was designed to strengthen and improve the nation’s public workforce system and help get Americans, including youth and those with significant barriers to employment, into high-quality jobs and careers, while helping employers hire and retain skilled workers.
WCC offers step-by-step support and training under the WIOA system. For the first time, the College recently supported an apprentice’s education using WIOA funding.
Crystal Doyle, WIOA career advisor at WCC, explained how the process began. “We sit down with students and map out their whole career pathways going forward, including career exploration and apprenticeship opportunities,” she said. “It’s a full advising experience all the way to employment.”
One individual, Shonisha Mayhue, was a licensed practical nurse who learned about an opportunity to apprentice as a registered nurse while enrolled in WCC’s Associate Degree Nursing program.
Mayhue applied for the position through the partnership between Apprenticeship Wayne, WCC’s nursing department, and UNC Health Wayne, and she was accepted as a registered nurse apprentice. WIOA funded Mayhue’s education at WCC while she received on-the-job training as an apprentice at UNC Health Wayne.
After graduating with an associate degree from WCC, earning a journeyman certificate from ApprenticeshipNC and the United States Department of Labor, and passing the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN), Mayhue now works as a registered nurse at UNC Health Wayne.
The board, which administers workforce development programs funded through WIOA, wants to replicate WCC’s WIOA-funded apprenticeship concept in other counties after seeing its success. WCC plans to expand its own opportunities for more WIOA-funded apprenticeships as well.
Doyle has been working with Apprenticeship Wayne and Wayne County employers to provide more opportunities through the Early Childhood Workforce Ready Academy, a free two-week childcare training developed by Partnership for Children.
Their goal is to register the academy as a pre-apprenticeship program, giving participants a complete pathway toward a career and earning an associate degree funded by WIOA.
Doyle said that collaborating across campus and with community partners makes it possible for WCC to support students in new ways. “We’re all working in tandem to complete these pathways,” she said. “With everybody working together, the potential is amazing.”
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