Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Labor and Industry
Board
Apprenticeship Council

General Notice
Virginia Apprentice Council (VAC) Draft Minutes from June 20, 2019 meeting
Date Posted: 7/2/2019
Expiration Date: 9/18/2019
Submitted to Registrar for publication: NO
No comment forum defined for this notice.

THE VIRGINIA APPRENTICESHIP COUNCIL MINUTES

 

The Virginia Apprenticeship Council met on Thursday, June 20, 2019, at the Department of Professional Occupational Regulation Building in Richmond, Virginia.

 

 

COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT:

          Dudley Harris, Chairman

          Christopher Cash

          Laura Duckworth

          Darold Kemp

          Michael Mays

          Terry Kelley

          Todd Estes

          Dr. Latitia McCane

          Ray Davenport, Commissioner

 

 

STAFF PRESENT:                            Patricia Morrison, Director          

                                                           Jacob Schwartz, Program Support Technician

                                                             

 

 CALL TO ORDER AND INTRODUCTIONS:

 

Chairman Dudley Harris called the meeting to order at 10:00 am and welcomed everyone. Chairman Harris thanked the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation for hosting the meeting. The Chairman welcomed the new council member Dr. Latitia McCane from Newport News Shipbuilding. Council members introduced themselves. 

 

PUBLIC COMMENT:

 

No public comment.

 

COUNCIL COMMENTS:

 

Chairman Harris stated Director Morrison, Assistant Director Eddington and himself were going to attend the NASTAD Conference, National Association of State and Territorial Apprenticeship Directors, where representatives from all over the nation come together to talk about what is working and not working for their state.

 

Chairman Harris mentioned that the Outstanding Apprenticeship Awards will take place again this year in November; Director Morrison will have more information in her report.

 

 

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

 

On proper motion and second, the minutes for the Council meeting held on March 21, 2019 were approved by Council members by roll call vote. Todd Estes did ask to have the previous minutes amended to reflect him being at the Shipyard for 19 years not 7.

 

CORRESPONDENCE:

 

There was no correspondence.

 

OLD BUSINESS:

 

Chairman Harris stated the Sub-Committee submitted the corrections for the By-laws, He asked the council members to review the changes and corrections presented and send  proposed changes to Director Morrison’s staff. There will be a vote on the By-Laws at the next Council Meeting.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

Michael Mays, Exemption from Examination Subcommittee member reported:

 

Sponsor 2003-02R had been registered for 58 Years and it is their 3rd submission for request of exemption. The request has been reviewed and meets the requirements for exemptions from licensing examination.

A motion was properly made, seconded and passed by roll call vote.

 

Laura Duckworth asked to review the Exemption Review process checklist at the next Council Meeting.

 

Vice-Chair Laura Duckworth wanted to address the Council’s role and voice in Apprenticeship matters.   She recently attended a grant writing session for the Apprenticeship Expansion Grant where she felt that the Department of Labor and Industry and the VAC were not being included as much as it should have been. Todd Estes stated that there was an advisory function in the grant that the VAC would be part of.  Commissioner Davenport stated that the final language of the grant had not been released and that function may have been left out in the final submission. Commissioner Davenport expressed that the Council should have an active voice in the apprenticeship and workforce development community. Since the community has been sponsor driven for a long time, they need to continue to focus on providing workers with a lifelong skill.

 

Laura Duckworth asked the Council what is their role in Build Virginia and what is the Department of Labor and Industry’s involvement with Build Virginia.  Employers and Sponsors in her area are confused about the Related Instruction offered at the Community College being confused as a “program” without being a registered apprentice employer. She was asking if there was a way to bridge the gap and help get the Council more active in the community. Todd Estes pointed out that in the Expansion Grant there is a position intended to help bring together all the pieces and help remove the confusion we are facing right now in the community around related instruction and Registered Apprenticeship. Chairman Harris stated that he is active in Workforce Development boards and expressed that all the council members and sponsors need to be more involved in workforce boards and the community.

 

 

 

 

REPORTS:

 

Virginia Apprenticeship Alumni Association (VAAA):

 

Chairman Harris will try and get the information about the VAAA Upcoming Golf Tournament.

Virginia Employment Commission (VEC):

Commissioner Hess could not attend.

 

Virginia Community College System (VCCS):

Mr. Estes stated that hopefully, the VCCS will have the new position at the VCCS system office to focus on apprenticeship that was funded by the state filled within the next couple of months. That position could be a very important position and ally, to make sure that we have consistency across the 23 community colleges and we work consistently with DOLI and workforce boards and the like. Mr. Estes stated the VCCS certainly intends to be a good partner in all of this and work with DOLI and sponsoring Employers.

Division of Registered Apprenticeship (DOLI):

Director Morrison reported the following:

The most recent event is the application process we did with other workforce partners for the Apprenticeship State Expansion grant.  This grant replaces a previous grant issued by USDOLETA.  The intention was to include the 13 states that had not been able to participate in the previous expansion grant.  We have been notified that we will be receiving the 1.6 million dollars to expand our reach and visibility over a three year period of performance.  We are responsible for adding 800 new apprentices in several different categories during that time and must show how the grant funding impacted those new apprentices.

 

DOLI has advertised for two Registered Apprenticeship Consultant apprentices.  One will work out of the Roanoke office and one out of the Verona office.  The posting is on the Department of Human Resource Management website if you would like to direct any possible candidates to explore.

 

Kathleen and I attended the Eastern Seaboard Apprenticeship Conference in Portland, Maine in May.  This was the first time Virginia had a presence at this conference which was celebrating its 75th year.  We learned from our peers in both the Office of Apprenticeship states as well as State Apprenticeship Agency states.  Many of us were doing double-duty writing up grant narrative in our spare time in anticipation of the submission.  Health care occupations, women in building trades and diversification in general were the themes of the conference. 

 

Lastly, we continue to work on the RAPIDS 2.0 conversion.  It now appears that it will go through this entire calendar year as the engineers in DC work with our IT and Administrative staff at Headquarters.

 

Let me wrap up with metrics for the Division.  I have the numbers from last Fiscal Year 2019 July 1, 2018 through June 19, 2019:

 

 

106 National Guard apprentices active

535 Department of Corrections’ apprentices active

11,163 public/private apprentices active

11,804 total

 

In this time we issued 1,521 Completion Certificates

We added 3906 new apprentices

We added 329 new or re-activated sponsors

 

We have 12 Schools who have created formal, Youth Registered Apprenticeship programs.

 

Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI):

 

Commissioner Davenport reported the following:

Commissioner expressed his thanks to the folks that were willing to have their input on the grant writing committee.

Year to date 2019 approaching already investigated 18 workplace accidents, fatal accidents where we have jurisdiction. Just to give you an idea of how these 18 have occurred 11 in general industry five and construction to agriculture, the top killers is normal year today. There was six from falls, four from struck by against to do from engulfment. Commissioner encourages you to share that information with employees that you work with on a daily basis.

Thank you for your service and support to Virginia’s Apprenticeship Council and Registered Apprenticeship. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

 

Chairman Harris announced that the next Council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 19, 2019 at 10 am at the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation.

 

Chairman Harris thanked the Council, Director Morrison, her staff, and all in attendance.

 

The meeting adjourned at 11:30 am.

 

__________________________________________

Mr. Dudley Harris, Chairman

 

 

 

__________________________________________

Mr. C. Ray Davenport, Secretary

 


Contact Information
Name / Title: Patricia Morrison   / Program Director
Address: Main Street Centre
600 East Main Street
Richmond, 23219
Email Address: patricia.morrison@doli.virginia.gov
Telephone: (804)786-1035    FAX: ()-    TDD: ()-