Patrick Haney, executive director of the East Central Educational Service Center in New Castle, chats with guests at a recent career fair. The service center was among four sites in Indiana to receive $175,000 grants for the development of youth apprentice programs.
NEW CASTLE – Hancock County students will soon benefit from a new youth apprentice program at the East Central Educational Service Center in New Castle.
The center was among four Indiana sites to receive $175,000 grants this month from Ascend Indiana to launch youth apprentice pilot programs in their communities.
Ascend Indiana is the talent and workforce development initiative of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership.
The East Central center – which serves students in Hancock and 13 other counties – received the grant in partnership with Eastern Indiana Works in Muncie.
The two agencies plan to use the funds to create work-based learning opportunities in advanced manufacturing, healthcare, information technology and education.
“Eastern Indiana Works and East Central Educational Service Center are excited to continue the work to implement our youth apprenticeship program,” said the New Castle center’s executive director, Patrick Haney.
That program – CareerBoost: Learn.Work.Earn.Succeed – is aimed at preparing students for prosperous careers.
Haney praised Ascend Indiana as well as the Walton Family Foundation – which funded the grants – for implementing the program, which he said will impact local and regional prosperity as it develops the next generation of workers.
The other three recent grant recipients were Southern Indiana Education Center in Jasper, Southern Indiana Works in New Albany and the West Central Indiana Career and Technical Education Center in Crawfordsville.
The four sites are now part of the Indiana Youth Apprenticeship Accelerator, which Ascend launched in 2021 to expand work-based learning programs and to develop a coordinated education-to-career ecosystem.
“These four sites have identified industries and career pathways that are meaningful to their local communities, and I am eager to see their programs become available to local students and employers,” said Brad Rhorer, president and CEO of Ascend Indiana, who said the state is leading the nation in building support systems to develop youth apprenticeship programs statewide.
With the addition of the new sites, the Indiana Youth Apprenticeship Accelerator now includes eight sites serving 42 Indiana counties. The goal is to provide all students across the state, in both urban and rural areas, with additional opportunities to obtain the necessary skills for today’s workforce.
According to an Ascend Indiana press release, youth apprenticeships are gaining momentum across the country, providing students and adult learners access to high-quality education and training options.
The recent grant initiative aims to help all Hoosiers discover their passions, reach their fullest potential, and contribute meaningfully to the economic and civic vitality of their communities.
Generally, students start apprenticeships as juniors in high school and complete a two- to three-year program preparing them for in-demand careers in a variety of industries, including information technology, financial services, healthcare and advanced manufacturing.
Through a combination of classroom learning and paid on-the-job training under the mentorship of a skilled employee, students earn their high school diplomas and industry-recognized credentials. They can also gain postsecondary credits aligned to degree programs, which enable them to launch a career, pursue further higher education, or both.
Key occupations and fields of interest among the four newly awarded sites are in healthcare, advanced manufacturing, information technology and education.
“As we embark on the launch phase of our journey into the youth apprenticeship program, we are grateful to the Walton Family Foundation for their generosity and to Ascend Indiana for their invaluable guidance throughout the process,” said Haney.
