CityWorks DC’s Leaders Testify In Support of CTE Legislation
On October 24, CityWorks DC’s VP of Strategic Initiatives Erin Bibo and VP of Innovation Lateefah Durant testified to the DC Council Committee of the Whole in support of a sustained citywide investment in Career and Technical Education. Please find the transcripts of the testimony and videos below.
Lateefah Durant
Testimony Before the Council of the District of Columbia Committee of the Whole at the Fiscal Year 2024 Hearing on the B25-741 “Vocational Education for a New Generation Act of 2024”
Good Afternoon, Chairman Mendelson and members of the committee. My name is Lateefah Durant, and I serve as the Vice President of Innovation at CityWorks DC, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the early career outcomes of DC youth. We seek to ensure that by age 24 or 25, all of our young people in DC are well on their way to building a family-sustaining career and choice-filled life. I am here today to testify on behalf of CityWorks DC to express our support for sustained citywide investment in Career and Technical Education; to share how CareerWise DC, a modern youth apprenticeship program, is effectively launching careers; and to advocate for expanding access to youth apprenticeship specifically so that more DC students have this invaluable opportunity.
When I joined CityWorks DC in 2020, my first assignment was to launch CareerWise DC, a modern youth apprenticeship program that students begin when they are still in high school. Modern youth apprenticeship - in finance, IT, and business operations rather than the skilled trades - trains and pays young people to do meaningful work and gain valuable skills, while building social capital by working side-by-side with professionals. Next year, we are expanding to include health care apprenticeships. Our apprentices are hired directly by our partner companies and complete over 2,000 hours of work and 144 hours of related classroom instruction, for which they earn above the minimum wage and net approximately $35,000 over the course of their apprenticeship. This pairing of on-the-job training with related instruction results in apprentices mastering occupations like junior coder, project management associate, or human resources analyst, which enables employers to shape their future workforce and earn a return on investment as they fill their most pressing talent needs. In 2020, we started with 14 youth apprentices, four high school partners, and six employers. Since then, we have added a new cohort of apprentices each year. Today, we partner with 10+ DCPS and public charter schools and 20+ local, regional, and multinational employers — and our apprentices and alumni total more than 70.
The impact of apprenticeship on our students’ postsecondary options and future outlook is powerful. A great example is Denita Jefferson, who completed a three-year apprenticeship in IT as a Database Administration apprentice with Freddie Mac in June, is on track to complete her bachelors in Computer Science at Delaware State University in 2026. In addition to completing 2,000+ hours of paid work as a Freddie Mac employee, Denita graduated from high school on time, earned two Microsoft certifications and discovered a passion for data analytics. Denita also described discovering her voice and an increased comfort in speaking up in meetings due to her apprenticeship. Like her CareerWise DC peers, Denita earned over $35,000 for her hard work.
Another great example is Jubei Brown-Weaver, who completed a three-year apprenticeship with Accenture this June as a Software Development Apprentice. As a high school junior he knew he wanted a future career in technology, but was certain he did not want to go to college before starting it. Participating in CareerWise DC was the pathway he needed to launch his career. In addition to completing 2,000+ hours of paid work as an Accenture employee and earned over $35,000 during his apprenticeship, Jubei learned Python, secured industry-valued credentials related to cybersecurity, banked social capital by building a professional network of colleagues and mentors, and graduated on time from high school at McKinley Tech. This experience directly led him to his current full-time position as a Packaged App Developer at the same company, Accenture, where he is harnessing the very same skills and relationships he honed as an apprentice.
These stories are not isolated examples. We have graduated two cohorts of apprentices to date and have three additional cohorts underway. Overall, 70 young people have been employed by our business partners since 2020, 12 of whom graduated and 35 of whom are active in the program. All 12 of our graduates have continued on to higher education or full-time employment in a good job or a combination of both. In addition to our apprentices’ quantifiable success, we have the privilege of watching them grow in the way they see their own potential and promise — they plan to earn more; they expect to have choices in their employment; they are confident to ask for help and take risks; and they see their work and their voice as valuable.
Next year, as part of the funding to DC from Bloomberg, we will support a new health care apprenticeship. While we are incredibly proud of the hard work of our apprentices, our school and employer partners, and our CareerWise DC program team in blazing this important trail, we are hopeful that accessing modern youth apprenticeship will get easier and see greater investment from the District over time in two critical areas:
First, the success of career launch opportunities like apprenticeship relies on strong career exploration and career preparation experiences earlier in students’ journey. Ideally, before students apply and commit to an apprenticeship, they have explored a variety of careers and prepared for the world of work through shorter work-based learning opportunities like internships. We are grateful for the good work happening in schools about career readiness and with partners such as On Ramps to Careers, Genesys Works, and Urban Alliance to support our students with these earlier steps.
Second, we need to address the barriers to scaling career launch opportunities like youth apprenticeship: time, transportation, training and support costs, and mindset shift. Currently, inflexible high school schedules due to high school graduation requirements make it difficult – if not impossible – for most students to work the hours required for a youth apprenticeship during business hours. We also find affordable and efficient transportation to be a basic, but significant, barrier to participating in apprenticeship. In this early phase, training and support costs are covered by philanthropic funding, but in the long term, aligning public resources for postsecondary and workforce development will be key. Finally, we will need to continue shifting the broader narrative from “college for all” to “multiple pathways to careers” to include apprenticeship and build the capacity of our education sector and parents to support pathways to both college and career — and increase the permeability between them.
I’ve seen first-hand the profound impact that CTE and other career-building assets can have on young people's lives. Work-based learning programs, like our youth apprenticeships, are catalysts for socio-economic mobility, providing young people with workplace experience and the professional network that are essential to building a career in high-wage, high-demand jobs. They can bolster local economies by strengthening the local talent pipeline and alleviate income inequality by providing young people from marginalized backgrounds with access to high-quality career opportunities. In this way, an investment in quality Career and Technical Education is an investment in the future of the District as a whole.
At CityWorks DC, we are committed to supporting systemic change to enable more organizations to offer modern youth apprenticeship opportunities, as well as the vital career exploration and preparation experiences they need. We are excited by the proof points CareerWise DC offers, proud of the stories of our apprentices, and grateful for the progress made in D.C. through the diverse and vibrant body of stakeholders with whom we are engaged. With the District’s commitment and investment in these areas, we are optimistic and eager for more organizations to join us in offering high school students excellent apprenticeship opportunities.
For all of these reasons, we are excited to have the opportunity to engage with the Council on this issue and remain committed to our goal of helping build a stronger, more equitable future for DC’s young people. Thank you for your time and attention, and I welcome any questions you may have.
Dr. Erin Ward Bibo
Public Testimony Before the Committee of the Whole on the Vocational Education for a New Generation Act of 2024
Good afternoon Chairman Mendelson, Committee Members, and staff. My name is Erin Bibo, and I am Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at CityWorks DC, a nonprofit focused on achieving two inextricably linked goals: 1) Youth and young adults of our city are prepared for, hired into, and succeeding in good jobs. 2) Local industries are confidently relying on local talent to meet their workforce needs. We do this through proof point programs like youth apprenticeship and through efforts to mobilize, catalyze, and positively change our local talent pipeline system. I’m also a Ward 6 resident and parent of three DCPS students.
I’m here today to testify in support of the city’s continued investments in high-quality Career & Technical Education. As you’ve heard today from Chelsea Coffin of the DC Policy Center, high-quality CTE programs give students ample opportunities to build their career assets - the set of tools, skills, experiences, and competencies that help an individual successfully navigate the workforce. A 2021 study conducted by CityWorks DC and Bain & Company found that DCPS and public charter school alumni who participated in career asset building opportunities in high school had significantly higher incomes, and were more likely to report feeling financially stable, fulfilled in their career, and optimistic about the future. To that end, I think the intent behind this legislation is spot on - more of our city’s youth should have access to high quality CTE.
The devil is in the details though, and I cannot emphasize strongly enough that we will only see positive outcomes for our young people if these programs are implemented with fidelity. OSSE has done a tremendous job of defining quality and creating standards and supports to help LEAs meet them. The Advanced Technical Center is an exemplar of high-quality as well. OSSE is in the process of rolling out a new CTE monitoring tool, which includes a rubric that supports schools in understanding what high-quality work-based learning looks like and how to implement it. To that end, OSSE knows what quality looks like and they will be excellent stewards of these much needed extra dollars to continue to equitably scale high-quality CTE across the city.
To focus on quality, not just quantity, I recommend:
Supporting OSSE in its efforts to set high standards;
Maintaining investments in the Education through Employment Pathways data system to track and analyze the effectiveness of our City’s investments, so that we can continuously improve our CTE programming based on that outcomes data; and
Deepening CTE’s connection to employers through mechanisms like the Hire Local DC Sector Partnerships, co-convened by the Federal City Council and CityWorks DC, which have proven highly effective at doing so.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I’m happy to answer any questions, and provide any additional resources on what quality at scale looks like.
