SACRAMENTO – The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office this week is recognizing and celebrating the second annual National Apprenticeship Week.

It runs Nov. 14 through 20 and is designed to provide the apprenticeship community the opportunity to recognize success stories of apprentices, businesses, labor, education and other entities that contribute to longstanding, successful and sustainable apprenticeship programs.

“Apprenticeships are a proven for training a strong workforce, through which one generation of skilled workers pass essential skills to another,” said Van Ton-Quinlivan, vice chancellor for workforce and economic development. “Our community colleges are proud to support tens of thousands of students every year through apprenticeships that put them on a fast track to well-paying, lifelong careers.”

More than 430,000 Americans participate in apprenticeship program each year across the country. With more than 70,000 registered apprentices in more than 300 occupations, California has the largest apprenticeship system in the country.

It is also one of the most diverse, serving a substantial number of woman, veterans and under-represented populations in every region of the state. And, apprenticeship programs will only continue to expand in California.

With the passage of the 2015-16 and 2016-17 state budgets, Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature have approved $30 million to develop new and innovative apprenticeship programs in regionally focused priority and emerging industry sectors, occupations and trades.

Many of the state’s existing programs are connected directly with California Community Colleges. The system has approximately 25,000 apprentices enrolled in more than 160 apprenticeship programs comprised of a total of 66 trades/crafts titles located on 39 campuses.

The Chancellor’s Office works in close collaboration with the California Labor Agency, Division of Apprenticeship Standards, California Workforce Investment Board, Employment Training Panel and Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development to ensure the success, investment and growth of apprenticeship programs.

More on the California Community Colleges apprenticeship program can be found at: http://extranet.cccco.edu/Divisions/WorkforceandEconDev/PolicyAlignmentandOutreach/Apprenticeship.aspx .

Hundreds of events are under way across the nation this week to showcase apprenticeship programs. A full listing of National Apprenticeship Week events in California can be found at http://www.dir.ca.gov/das/National_Apprenticeship_Week.htm .

The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation composed of 72 districts and 113 colleges serving 2.1 million students per year.

For more information about the community colleges, please visit http://californiacommunitycolleges.cccco.edu/ , https://www.facebook.com/CACommColleges or https://twitter.com/CalCommColleges .