Nov. 21—WASHINGTON — As the nation marked National Apprenticeship Week last week, the U.S. Department of Labor announced an initiative to expand its pre-apprenticeship opportunities for Job Corps students and connect them to registered apprenticeship programs.

The effort will allow Job Corps campuses throughout the nation to emphasize pre-apprenticeship programs in green energy, health care, information technology and other high-growth industry sectors.

"Pre-apprenticeship programs prepare students with a set of skills and strategies needed to enter and succeed in a registered apprenticeship program or industry-relevant job," Job Corps National Director Rachel Torres said. "Through this initiative, Job Corps students will spend approximately one year in a pre-apprenticeship program. With the general education, enhanced social skills and hands-on job training they receive, these students will have more career pathways from which to choose."

Currently, Job Corps offers more than 300 pre-apprenticeship programs in the construction, advanced manufacturing, renewable resources and energy, transportation, and automotive and machine repair industries.

The new initiative announced aligns with the Biden-Harris administration's commitment to expand registered apprenticeship to build equitable pathways to the middle class and connect a diverse work force to family-supporting, living-wage jobs.

There are three Job Corps campuses in Georgia: Atlanta, Brunswick and Turner Job Corps in Albany. They collectively offer 12 pre-apprenticeship training programs, all within the construction and transportation industry sectors. Other career skills training areas include programs in advanced manufacturing, automotive and machine repair, finance and business, health care, homeland security, hospitality, and renewable resources and energy.

Founded in 1964, Job Corps is the nation's largest job training and education program. It provides students from 16 to 24 years of age with vocational training and academic experiences to increase opportunities toward gainful employment and career pathways. A mostly residential program in urban and rural areas, Job Corps centers include dormitories and a campus environment similar to small colleges. Job Corps provides programs and services to students free of charge.

Administered by the department's Employment and Training Administration, the Job Corps network currently has 121 centers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.