Apprenticeships are a workforce strategy that provide workers with real-world skills and an on-ramp to the middle class and beyond. In the US, businesses and unions have been using apprenticeship for decades because it provides a tangible return on investment unmatched in any other skills program. But it hasn’t reached everyone that could benefit. At Urban, we’re expanding the apprenticeship model that has worked so well in the traditional trades to new heights, taking it to cybersecurity, clean energy, and health care. Moving ahead, apprenticeships must be made more accessible to those that have been historically underserved—because we all win when everyone has a shot.
Zach Boren is a senior policy program manager in the Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population at the Urban Institute, where he leads various apprenticeship-focused projects, including youth apprenticeship, and is a technical expert on registered apprenticeship and equal employment opportunity. Before working at Urban, Boren spent 11 years with the US Department of Labor, where he was the director of registered apprenticeship and policy.
Boren worked with US Coast Guard on congressional affairs and on Capitol Hill. Boren was selected by the Aspen Institute as a Marano Fellow, participating in the Sector Skills Academy. Boren received a bachelor’s in public affairs from Indiana University and a master’s in congressional and presidential studies from the Catholic University of America.
