National Apprenticeship Week 2026: DAS Announces $13.2 million to Support Youth Apprenticeship

On April 30, 2026, during National Apprenticeship Week, the Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) announced $13.2 million in California Opportunity Youth Apprenticeship (COYA) round 3 continuation grants—funding that will support 25 programs projected to serve 1,424 young people across the state.

The COYA program works to connect out-of-school and unemployed youth ages 16 to 24 to pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs in high-demand sectors-including healthcare, IT, and advanced manufacturing. Round 3 is continuation funding, awarded only to programs that previously demonstrated strong performance serving opportunity youth.

The announcement took place at Chaffey College’s dedicated InTech Center in Fontana and brought together state officials, employer partners, and the young folks at the heart of the program.
The most powerful moments of the event came from the apprentices themselves. Carlos Gonzalez, Ahlias Calderon, and Eric Cortez Gomez—all pre-apprenticeship graduates now employed at FedEx, Anheuser-Busch, and DrinkPAK respectively—described how the pre-apprenticeship at InTech gave them the confidence to walk onto a workroom floor and understand what they were seeing.

Ahlias Calderon joined the program after high school feeling lost and without direction. He told the audience that the program provided both the technical foundation and the stability he was looking for. Eric Cortez Gomez was a pre-apprentice during the first COYA round of funding and now he is an Electromechanical Technician Apprentice Level 2 at DrinkPAK. He described the moment the training clicked was when he entered his new workplace and recognized every piece of equipment from his pre-apprenticeship training.

Employer speakers reinforced a message heard throughout the morning: workforce development and business outcomes are not in competition –they go together. Justin Wallace, Director of Learning and Development at DrinkPAK, noted that apprentices hired through InTech arrived already fluent in the technical language, safety habits, and professional expectations of manufacturing work.  He remarked, “That’s the difference between someone coming in week one overwhelmed or becoming acclimated.”

Read more about the grant and the full list of COYA grantees on our website: https://www.dir.ca.gov/DAS/Grants/California-Youth-Apprenticeship-Grant.html

May 2026