From left, MANGO Interim Operations Manager Emma Perez, CNMI DOL Secretary Leila Staffler, and WIA Program Manager Joseph Villacrusis.
Photo by Andrew Roberto
THE CNMI Department of Labor wants to register at least 100 locals in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Registered Apprenticeship Program, CNMI DOL Secretary Laila Staffler said.
Staffler and CNMI DOL Workforce Investment Agency Program Manager Joseph Villacrusis were the special guest panelists at the general membership meeting of the Marianas Alliance of Non-Government Organizations on Sept. 28 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
According to a release on the CNMI DOL website, the Registered Apprenticeship Program is “designed to up-skill workers in demand-driven occupations” in the CNMI, including construction, hospitality, food service, and more.
Staffler and Villacrusis discussed how the program could be applied to shore up the workforce capacity of nonprofit organizations.
According to Villacrusis, certain “entry-level occupations” such as administrative assistants and data clerks registered as apprentices in the program could have 50% of their wages covered for up to a year.
Villacrusis said two nonprofit organizations — 500 Sails and MANGO — have registered apprentices in the Registered Apprenticeship Program.
The CNMI DOL website states that “incumbent workers” — people already employed at the job site — qualify to be registered apprentices.
The intent of the program is for apprentices to “better themselves,” Villacrusis said. To that end, apprentices will work under a qualified mentor, register at least 2,000 hours of on-the-job training, as well take on a recommended 144 hours of related technical instruction at a college, online training provider, or some other kind of educational provider. The related technical instruction will be “fully subsidized.”
“Our main target population are jobseekers, mainly individuals who have income barriers or are skill deficient. Those are our priorities,” Villacrusis said.
He said the Workforce Investment Agency also implements the Work Experience Training Program through which partnering businesses can have 100% of an employee’s wages covered. These employees are new to the workforce and must be hired at the end of the program, he added.
WIA “caters to a lot of individuals searching for careers or training opportunities to better themselves,” Villacrusis said. “There are a lot of people looking for jobs out there. It’s just a matter of partnering up with the business community to place them into the jobs.”
Villacrusis said his recommended pathway includes partnering with CNMI DOL to take a new employee on under the Work Experience Training Program, and eventually moving that employee into the Registered Apprenticeship Program.
Villacrusis said WIA in 2022 had one registered partner that was training two apprentices under the Registered Apprenticeship Program. He said the number has since grown to eight businesses with “over 30 apprentices.”
Villacrusis said the program is one way to address the pending CW touchback deadline, which takes effect on Sept. 30.
“There’s a lot of pressure on my end to go out and sell this to the business community,” Villacrusis said. “It is a great program to get into, so that’s what we’re trying to do, to address touchback issues and all the skilled workers that are going to be leaving. This is one avenue of approach that the business community should consider.”
He said in recent weeks he’s been “bombarded” with emails, requests for meetings, and phone calls about WIA’s program.
Emma Perez, MANGO’s interim operations manager, encouraged the non-profit sector to also take advantage of the opportunities offered by WIA.
“I would challenge the non-profit sector,” Perez said at the meeting. “Let’s do this. Let’s try to get up to 300 employees by next year.”
Perez noted that in the U.S., the non-profit sector is a huge industry.
“In the mainland, non-profits bring in about one trillion dollars a year,” she said. “Non-profits are the third largest employment sector.”
She said the CNMI “is ripe for the non-profit sector to blossom,” adding that by participating in the Registered Apprenticeship Program, non-profits could train their workforce in a “budget-sustaining manner.”
For more information, regarding the Registered Apprenticeship Program email apprenticeship@dol.gov.mp or call (670) 664-1711.
