‘I couldn’t lose.’ Georgia apprenticeships get boost from federal grant.

“I never want to be complacent. I always want to learn, learn, learn,” Smith said.

There are currently 175 active programs across the state. More could be coming.

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp, Georgia created its state-funded apprenticeship initiative through the TCSG in 2022. It helps companies set up apprenticeships and cover training costs. A $6.1 million federal grant will bolster that effort. Announced in late June, it’s the largest federal award the TCSG program — which expects to add 700 new apprentices with the funds — has ever received.

Allocated by Congress last year, the U.S. Department of Labor grant is part of an $84 million investment distributed across all 50 states. Lawmakers hope the awards will increase the capacity of apprenticeship programs nationally. “I want to help Georgians who otherwise lack access to job training and skills training get those skills, get that experience, and get these jobs,” said U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., who advocated for the funds.

In an April executive order, President Donald Trump said he wants to add more than 1 million active apprentices nationally. That could be good news for companies and workers alike.

There are more than 1,200 apprentices currently sponsored by the state, which considers the programs a win-win. Apprentices get a free education and are paid during the program and guaranteed a job upon completion. Companies get trained employees who are likely to stick around for years.

“What companies generally see is stronger retention,” said Brandon Ona, an executive director in the TCSG’s workforce development office. “They see more productivity as a company as a whole, because they’ve been able to craft their talent.”

Aviana Carlton, 21, is an apprentice with Oglethorpe Power, learning to be an auxiliary operator for the company’s hydro power plant in Rome. At night, the recent Coosa High School grad takes classes at Georgia Northwestern Technical College. During the day, she does on-the-job training through the program that starts apprenticeship pay at more than $25 per hour plus benefits. If she works her way up within the company, she could make well into six figures.

“Being able to have a steady income and also do the college thing, to have a degree in my back pocket as I’m working, that was absolutely enticing to me,” she said.

It also helps the company, which sees many of its current employees reaching retirement age. “What we get out of it is a future workforce,” said Rachel Linton, who started the program for Oglethorpe.

The Atlanta airport made a similar calculation, deciding it would be better to have an in-house welding workforce than relying on contractors. In collaboration with Atlanta Technical College, it currently has three apprenticeship programs and plans to add more.

In the hangar known as the “welding shop,” apprentices like Keandre Kelly and Anterrio McDowell wear backward baseball caps under their masks; it helps protect the back of their necks from sparks, a lesson learned after occasional burns and the smell of burning hair. Both said the apprenticeship opportunity was too good to pass up. “I felt like I couldn’t lose,” said Kelly, 26.

Brenden Coulter, 22, felt the same way. He had considered trade school in the past, but it was a lot of money to pay out of pocket.

“So hearing that I could work a job while learning the trade and getting paid to learn?” Coulter said. “You can’t beat that.”