YCAL AND KINSLEY ANNOUNCE PRE-APPRENTICE PROGRAM FOR YORK
November 14-20 is National Apprenticeship Week
York, PA – York County Alliance for Learning (YCAL) and Kinsley Construction, Inc. announce they are teaming to deliver a pre-apprentice program for high school students during the 2017-2018 school year. The one-credit program will be available to seniors in YCAL Partner Schools and will provide as many as 30 students with early exposure to apprenticeships.
“Because of the manufacturing base in York County, we’ve been working to bring this type of program to the county for years, and for one reason or another, it hasn’t been done,” notes Dr. Jud Stauffer, YCAL Education Committee Co-Chair and School-to-Work Coordinator at Dallastown Area School District. “This is really ground-breaking.”
YCAL has worked in consultation with the Department of Labor (DOL) in the development of the program. Steve Myers of the DOL notes that pre-apprenticeship programs offer benefits employers as well, such as increased retention rates and quality apprenticeship candidates.
As YCAL’s primary partner for the pilot program, Kinsley is providing OSHA training, career pathway presentations, and 32 hours of on-site practicum at the Kinsley Education Center. “When we started our apprenticeship program in 2000, we spent our time trying to convince schools there were good careers in construction,” says Jon Kinsley, President and COO of Kinsley Construction. “Now the schools are coming to us saying that students need alternatives to college. It’s great that we’re all on the same page, because there’s going to be a shortage of tradespeople. Anything we can do to attract young people to apprentice programs now will be good for us and good for the industry.”
During this pilot year for the program with Kinsley, the focus is on construction trades. YCAL plans to expand the program in the following years by partnering with more companies, providing pre-apprenticeships to feed a variety of apprenticeship programs in the county.
The York County Alliance for Learning is a non-profit organization that works with businesses and schools to provide career education, relevant academic experiences, and work based learning to York County students. YCAL is a non-profit organization under the 501(c)(3) regulations. YCAL is supported in part by corporate donations; any investment is tax exempt. YCAL is an approved Education Improvement Organization under the Education Improvement Tax Credit Program. For more information, please visit www.ycal.us.
Kinsley Construction is a family owned business headquartered in York, Pennsylvania with offices in Reading, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; and Herndon, Virginia. Kinsley delivers solutions through preconstruction, construction management, general contracting and design-build services for clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Please visit www.kinsleyconstruction.com.