The future of workforce development in the healthcare industry is — apprenticeships?

Could apprenticeships help improve Philadelphia’s six percent unemployment rate — the highest of surrounding counties?

The District 1199C Training and Upgrading Fund is a Center City-based workforce development organization that trains low-income job seekers for the healthcare and human services industries, including positions in community health, behavioral health and early childhood education.

What sticks out about this program is that students are trained specifically for jobs that currently exist and need people to fill them. It’s certainly a good deal for the program’s participants, who are placed in full-time positions upon completion. Their future employers include JEVS Human Services, SPIN, Community Behavioral Health and Philadelphia Mental Health Care Corporation.

District 1199C’s executive director, Cheryl Feldman, wrote in a guest post for Technical.ly reporting series Grow PA that the apprenticeship program is “yielding promising results” — and she offers a call to action for healthcare employers to consider implementing their own apprenticeship programs.