Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week: Spotlight on Elevance Health’s IT Apprenticeship Program
At CareerRise, we’re proud to join the nationwide celebration of National Apprenticeship Week (NAW). NAW is a dedicated time where industry leaders, employers, and educational institutions come together to highlight the transformative impact of apprenticeship programs on workforce development and career pathways.
We’re shining a spotlight on the remarkable journey of the Elevance Health Information Technology (IT) Apprenticeship program. This program stands out as an exemplary model, offering a professional career pathway into the IT field for foster care youth and other underserved communities.
Elevance Health IT Apprenticeship Program Overview:
The Elevance Health Information Technology (IT) Apprenticeship program is designed to offer foster care youth and other underserved youth communities with a professional career pathway into the IT field. The apprenticeship program, which is certified as a National Registered Apprenticeship program by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), provides apprentices with on-the-job training within our enterprise IT departments, professional career development and mentoring, technical certification training, and formal classroom learning. The program’s history to date includes:
- 2018: Program design and conception
- 2019: Initial pilot program launched with eight apprentices
- 2020: Second cohort of six apprentices joined the program
- 2022: Third cohort of five apprentices joined the program
The Apprenticeship Program is a five (5) year, paid, competency-based technical training program that provides professional development support for each apprentice and a direct career pipeline into the Elevance Health IT workforce. Our program is unique in that each apprentice accepted into the program is hired by Elevance Health as a full-time Associate, so they receive the same health care and other benefits as other Elevance Health Associates. In addition, the program provides comprehensive resources including support services around housing, childcare, food and transportation assistance. In addition, tutoring services, course books, curriculum coaching, and study partners, to support the apprentices’ success in completing their Elevance Health-tailored college curriculum and hands-on learning through Atlanta Technical College.
In August 2023, Monty Green, Program Manager, promoted the first apprentices of the program to Senior level apprentice. The following month in September 2023, the IT Apprenticeship Program saw it’s first graduate of the program. The Sr. apprentice started with the program in 2020 and met all requirements of the program by completing several IT rotations, earning her professional Scrum Master certification, and pursuing her Associate’s degree. The apprentice was offered and accepted a new position within Elevance Health as a Business Analyst I. Through continued training and development, several apprentices will have completed their Associate degrees in Computer Information Systems by the end of this year. The program is expecting to see 5 more graduations in Spring 2024.
At CareerRise, we remain dedicated to fostering such impactful programs that empower individuals to build meaningful careers. As we commemorate National Apprenticeship Week, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to all the apprentices, graduates, and the Elevance Health team for their commitment to excellence and success.