Northern California Apprentice Network Launches
As the Bay Area and the greater Northern California megaregion begin the recovery process, increasing equitable opportunity will be central to maintaining California’s leading economy. On Thursday (April 29), the Bay Area Council joined leaders from across Northern California to formally launch the Northern California Apprentice Network, with the aim of scaling apprenticeship opportunities in new industries and bringing more employers to the table.
Led by AON CEO Greg Case and Accenture Senior Managing Director Saleem Janmohamed, the launch brought a strong lineup of support from elected officials, partners, and employers across Northern California. Expanding apprenticeships has been a major focus of the Council’s Workforce of the Future initiative. Apprenticeships provide new pathways into well-paid roles that open the door to more diverse talent that is representative of our Bay Area and Northern California population.
Attendees heard from Lily Galindo, a former apprentice in Apprenti’s program who is now a full-time Site Reliability Engineer at VMware. Her inspiring story spoke truth to the opportunity apprenticeships provide – building a pathway to well-paid roles for those without a 4-year degree. If done right, apprenticeships can build more equitable pathways into roles that were previously inaccessible to low-income and diverse talent. That opportunity and message was underscored by leaders including Senator Alex Padilla, Representatives Jackie Speier, Mark DeSaulnier, and Ro Khanna as well as Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Sheneui Weber, Vice Chancellor of Workforce & Economic Development, California Community Colleges. The Council is excited to continue to grow the network with founding members Aon, Accenture, Adobe, Twilio, TechSF (San Francisco Office of Economic & Workforce Development), and Apprenti. Additional partnerships across the Northern California region will be essential to a successful network. The Council looks forward to building on this momentum and working towards a more equitable recovery. To get involved and learn more, please contact Senior Policy Manager Henry Bartholomay.
