As the academic school year comes to a close, this is an exciting season filled with many opportunities. Students are moving forward into their summer plans, and for many, taking steps into post-secondary education, training and employment. At Educate Maine and Region 10 Technical High School, we are dedicated to creating multiple pathways which open doors to a diverse array of future careers for more students.

We all know Maine has a workforce shortage driven by multiple demographic factors — an aging population entering retirement, a child care crisis keeping 24,000 parents out of our workforce, a low birth rate and a small population spread out over a huge geography. These are major obstacles to building a workforce that will support the robust and innovative Maine economy we all need — one in which current employers remain and grow and new employers relocate from other states.

We also know that to achieve Maine’s 10-year strategic goals, we need to attract 75,000 more workers into the state’s talent pool, including our current residents and new Mainers.

The reality is, we need every available young person to find and succeed at meaningful work. Educate Maine and Region 10 Technical High School are rolling up our sleeves and getting to work on this.

We are excited to be part of the effort to address this challenge by creating a new partnership between our non-profit organization, our regional career and technical high school and a Midcoast business, Goodwin Chevrolet and Mazda, designed to help young workers, ages 17-24, build the skills and experiences they need to launch a rewarding career.

This partnership has recently helped create Maine’s only Automotive Technician I registered apprenticeship program at Goodwin Chevrolet and Mazda in Brunswick. It’s a win-win-win.

Region 10 students win. Under the Educate Maine/Region 10/Goodwin Motors partnership, Region 10 graduates can become apprentices. As apprentices, they will develop technical and interpersonal work skills, learn their skills while earning wages which increase incrementally as their skills increase, build powerful industry connections, and conclude their apprenticeships with a credential of value. Apprentices gain over 2,000 hours of on-the-job experience and apply those hours to earn an industry-recognized credential of value that is transferable, stackable, valid for life, and recognized nationally.

The Midcoast business wins. Goodwin Chevrolet and Mazda will have new full-time employees learning skills from experienced trades experts, has the opportunity to groom the next generation of Automotive Technicians, and has a head start on future recruiting.

The education nonprofits wins As an intermediary sponsor of registered apprenticeships, Educate Maine helps recruit, onboard and certify the work of the apprentices while also supporting them, ensuring young people entering the workforce have access to needed services and assistance. Educate Maine is also establishing pre-apprenticeship programs at Region 10 and in other career-technical education (CTE) schools, to help students prepare for apprenticeship opportunities and to connect students in a meaningful way with potential future employers. One prime example is that Educate Maine is in the process of seeking Maine Department of Labor approval for Region 10’s two-year Automotive Technology program to be a certified pre-apprenticeship. This pre-apprenticeship will be connected to the Goodwin Chevrolet and Mazda registered apprenticeship as a direct talent pipeline.

The Educate Maine, Region 10 Technical High School and Goodwin Chevrolet and Mazda partnership is just one piece of a more comprehensive program led by Educate Maine to increase certified pre-apprenticeships and registered apprenticeships in construction, trades, IT, broadband and logistics, automotive, manufacturing, education, CDL, and aquaculture across Maine. Collectively, the education and training provided by these pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs move us closer to Maine’s educational attainment goal that 60 percent of adults aged 25-64 hold a degree or non-degree credential of value by 2025.

We are all eager to be part of the solution to advance Maine’s ambitious economic development plans and help solve our current workforce challenges.

Hannah Greene is a workforce development specialist with Educate Maine. Jason Darling is an instructor at Region 10 Technical High School in Brunswick.

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