In the near future, we will introduce a resolution to recognize April 26 through May 2, 2026, as Youth Apprenticeship Week in Pennsylvania.

As work-based learning opportunities, youth apprenticeships connect young people with experiences that foster their growth, knowledge, and capacity. Across the country, employers, educators, and labor unions are launching registered apprenticeship programs that allow participants to earn competitive wages as they gain the training and experience they need to start their careers.
 
In the past 2 years alone, thousands of students in Philadelphia and across PA engaged with established unions doing the essential work that makes our commonwealth function. They have had the chance to see their futures in careers ranging from construction to education to maritime and advanced manufacturing. These opportunities have shown our young people the ways they can not only be a part of our economy but how they can have an active role in shaping our shared future and their own.

Youth apprenticeships are good for young people. They create pathways for youth to enter the workforce via hands-on experience, supplemental education, and mentorship. Youth apprenticeships are good for communities. When young people receive the training, skills, and support they need to build their futures, families and neighborhoods benefit from their success. Youth apprenticeships are good for our Commonwealth. Registered apprenticeships create a sustainable pipeline of skilled and diverse talent across historic and developing industries, while providing access to family-sustaining jobs. With a strong tradition of trades and skilled labor that stretches back long before the founding of our Commonwealth, it is fitting that Pennsylvania honor this history and officially recognize Youth Apprenticeship Week.

In celebration and support of Pennsylvania’s youth and their capacity to drive our Commonwealth forward, we hope you will join us in cosponsoring this important resolution.