In her home country of Ecuador, Claudia Moreta, 44, earned a bachelor’s degree in international trade and worked as a customs broker. In the United States, she became a stay-at-home mother. When she was ready to return to the workforce, Moreta set her sights on the logistics industry, but she had a hard time getting a job. She’d apply for jobs and get interviewed, but she didn’t get any offers.
One day while browsing the internet, she came across an advertisement from Hellmann Worldwide Logistics. It was looking for apprentices. Finally, Moreta got her foot in the door.
“This program gave me an understanding of the industry, and I had the opportunity to learn from so many people with a lot of experience,” Moreta says. “It was a very good time for me to grow as a professional.”
After completing her yearlong apprenticeship, Moreta was hired as an import coordinator and has since taken on new roles. She now works on the export side of the business and is earning a master’s degree in logistics and supply chain management at Florida International University. Her long-term goal is to stay with the company and keep growing.
Moreta was part of the 2022 cohort of apprentices at Hellmann, located just outside of Miami. The Germany-based company has long had apprentices in its home country, but it only began hiring them in the United States in 2021, starting in Florida.
The Big Idea: The apprenticeship program was made possible by Miami Dade College—the first higher education institution in the state to become a registered apprenticeship sponsor, filling that role in the place of employers. The program is part of the continued trend of community colleges stepping up as intermediaries in apprenticeships, offering not only the technical instruction but also the infrastructure to build and operate the programs.
The college-as-sponsor model benefits both students and employers. Students get training that is broader than what they might receive from a single employer, and often earn college credits that can be used toward further education. And employers offload the responsibility of setting up a program from scratch.
Miami Dade adds an additional sweetener through a partnership with the local workforce board, CareerSource South Florida, that helps offset the costs to employers, which is particularly attractive to smaller companies that don’t have the financial resources to train apprentices. It’s a strategic use of federal dollars from the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
States like Alabama have also seen success with wage reimbursements, though apprenticeship leaders there—as in a number of places—have found WIOA dollars to be too restrictive for many employers. In Miami, however, the majority of employers take the college and workforce board up on the offer.
Miami Dade now offers 22 apprenticeships across industries ranging from HVAC and plumbing to emerging apprenticeship fields like banking, teaching, and logistics. At any time, they have up to 150 apprentices and 45 different employers. In addition to providing the classroom instruction free of charge to apprentices, the college also helps them buy toolkits, uniforms, protective equipment, laptops, and books. Most apprentices will earn at least three credentials that can count toward degrees if they decide to continue their education.
For students, the appeal is in the practicality. Alexia Rolle, dean of career and technical education at the college, says the wait list is more than 1K people long.
“Students are attracted to earning a postsecondary credential while being employed,” Rolle says. “We don’t have any front-loaded instruction where they are in school for three or four or five months before they’re receiving employment. Day one of schooling, they are compensated and they are already onboarded.”
A ‘Tag Team’ Approach
CareerSource South Florida has long worked with Miami Dade College on training initiatives, but the relationship has grown in recent years as apprenticeships expanded. Rick Beasley, executive director of the workforce board, often calls Rolle when he’s out meeting with employers and sees an opportunity to introduce apprenticeships.
“I call her and basically say, ‘I don’t know what you’re doing right now, but come join me because I need you to hear what they’re asking for,’” Beasley says. “It’s like a tag team in a wrestling match. I let her pitch, then she tags me in, and I say, ‘My dollars can help.’ That’s how we work together to help employers create an apprenticeship program.”
In Miami-Dade County, 81% of businesses employ fewer than 10 workers. Despite the tight labor market in Miami and the need to recruit and retain skilled workers, these businesses often have a hard time establishing apprenticeship programs due to a lack of manpower. Apprenticeships are a heavy lift for employers, requiring HR management, mentors, supervisors, and a financial investment to pay workers who are less productive in the beginning.
Miami Dade College helps with the logistics of setting up the programs, in addition to providing the necessary classroom instruction. And CareerSource South Florida reimburses up to 40% of apprentices’ wages using WIOA dollars. The workforce board is also submitting a request to the Department of Labor to be able to reimburse up to 100% of wages for businesses in Opportunity Zones, federally designated low-income areas.
On the Ground: Rolle doesn’t push employers to take advantage of the wage reimbursement, but about 70% of them take the offer, including Hellmann Worldwide Logistics. With about 150 employees in Miami, the company approached Miami Dade College in 2020 to ask for help in developing a talent pipeline, specifically through apprenticeship.
“We wanted to get people that we can train, so that by the time we have open roles, we have people who can fill them, who are cross-trained and have the right skill set already. We don’t need to start from scratch,” says Priscila Rodriguez, regional learning and development manager at Hellmann.
The apprenticeship program at Hellmann is a year long. In that time, apprentices rotate through different departments at the company, gaining experience in transportation and logistics, building maintenance, electrical, and warehousing. They learn about both ocean and air import and export. Moreta even learned how to drive a forklift.
Rodriguez says once someone has their foot in the door in the industry, it’s easy to move around to different roles, including marketing and finance, making it an attractive option for young people who want to stay with the company and grow. Out of the six students who have completed their apprenticeships so far, five have stayed with the company.
Raising Retention: More than 90% of registered apprenticeship graduates nationally stay with the company, according to the Department of Labor. In industries with high turnover, apprenticeship can be a solution.
The automotive industry in Miami is one such industry. According to Beasley, automotive technicians were jumping from dealership to dealership, responding to offers for higher wages. A few years ago, Miami-based Bean Automotive approached Miami Dade College to start an apprenticeship program to build their own talent, rather than stealing from other dealerships. They’ve now had three cohorts of apprentices.
“They’ve built their own talent pool,” Beasley says. “They’re bringing in folks who don’t have the experience they’re looking for, but it allows them to build that talent. And for the job seeker, they’re not only gaining skills but also certification.”
Cost Conundrum
Miami Dade College is so bought into the model that it uses it for its own workforce in some cases. Apprentices in HVAC, plumbing, electrical, help desk technician, network support, and even teacher assisting can work at the college.
As apprenticeships grow, however, Miami Dade College faces a unique challenge. Florida is one of just a few states that doesn’t allow colleges to charge tuition to apprentices. While CareerSource South Florida pays the employers, Miami Dade College has to come up with other ways to cover the cost of educating the students. The college uses grant funding from the Florida Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Florida Department of Health, as well as funding from Bank of America and other private donors to cover the cost of curriculum development.
The Trump administration has sent mixed signals about federal support for apprenticeship—issuing an executive order aimed at increasing the number of active apprentices to 1M nationwide, but also proposing to keep funding essentially flat and even cutting grants in some cases.
For now, though, Miami Dade College says it can piece together the funding to keep growing.
“As long as that’s the case, we’re sustainable and we’re able to stay in the green,” Rolle says. “There’s no need to charge our apprentices or our employers a large amount to sustain the program—not as of yet.”