The U.S. Department of Labor awarded Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) a grant of $12 million to strengthen its apprenticeship programs.

According to Joe May, DCCCD chancellor, their goal is to train 50,000 apprentices by the year 2030.

Funding from the new grant will support training for 7,500 apprentices in about 50 different healthcare fields. May noted that increasing diversity is a priority – he anticipates that of the 7,500 new apprentices, nearly 3,700 will be women, more than 2,500 will be people of color and more than 1,100 will have some affiliation with the military.

Partners in the project include UT Southwestern Medical Center, Texas Health Resources, VA Health Care System, Children’s Health, Parkland Health & Hospital System, Methodist Health System, Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council, Capital Senior Living, Medical City Healthcare, Acadian Ambulance Services, JPS Health Network and the American Hospital Association.

New apprenticeship programs are nurses, cardiovascular technicians, flight medics, radiology technicians and behavioral health technicians.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta visited El Centro College, one of the seven campuses comprising DCCCD, to announce the grant last month.

He attended several roundtables about apprenticeships and the future of healthcare.

“Apprenticeships in health care are not as prevalent as in other industries, and this initiative is meant to change that,” May said. “Through partnerships with local health care systems, national providers and the American Hospital Association, we are creating a strong infrastructure to serve these students and provide them with career-making and life-changing opportunities.”

For more stories like this, see the Aug. 1 issue or subscribe online.

From Staff Reports • [email protected]