The Colorado Department of Higher Education has begun a pilot apprenticeship program focused initially on healthcare careers in cooperation with the state’s community college system.

“One of my passions since coming to the department has been to connect students to a meaningful workplace education component during their academic experience,” said Angie Paccione, the department’s executive director. “This program does just that and more, beginning in healthcare and expanding to other areas of study. We aim to scale to 5,000 apprenticeships over the next several years.”

In June 2019, the Polis Administration announced that the U.S. Department of Labor awarded $12 million to the state to support at least 5,000 apprenticeships in healthcare. The state has close to 333,000 employees in the industry and the Denver area alone added 43,250 such jobs between 2012 and 2017.

CDHE indicated that there would be 300 open apprenticeships in the near term for public health, medical assistant and nursing occupations. Internet technology and cybersecurity apprenticeships are scheduled to begin in January.

The federal award from 2019 was part of $183.8 million that went to university systems in 19 states and their partners in the medical industry. H-1B visa fees for foreign workers filling jobs in the United States funded the grant program.