Walton Family Foundation-backed workforce programs uplift residents

Multiple workforce programs operating in Northwest Arkansas have made a significant impact on residents across the region and the state. In turn, they’ve contributed to the area economy.

The Walton Family Foundation^[1] has supported the programs through grants, and grantees are leading innovative and collaborative efforts to connect professional growth with economic priorities.

“Economic mobility is essential to a thriving Northwest Arkansas,” said Yee-Lin Lai, senior program officer – Home Region at Walton Family Foundation. “By supporting apprenticeships, upskilling and new credentialing models, we enable pathways to opportunity for residents, ensure employers have the talent they need and strengthen the region’s workforce.”

Bill Yoder, executive director of Apprenticely^[2], said the Walton Family Foundation has supported the nonprofit with grants ranging from $100,000 to $1.3 million. The nonprofit offers apprenticeship, training, and internship programs supporting Arkansas job seekers and employers.

In spring 2024, Apprenticely rebranded from Arkansas Center of Data Sciences after operating for five years to expand the information technology workforce throughout the state.

Yoder said the nonprofit has had about 2,000 registered apprentices working for nearly 220 employers, and about 55% of the apprentices are in Northwest Arkansas. The nonprofit serves as an intermediary between employers and the talent pool, matching them with the skills that employers want, he said. Most of the talent comprised people between 18 and 55 looking to change careers.

“We use the registered apprenticeship program because these individuals don’t meet the minimum requirements,” Yoder said. “They don’t have a computer science degree with five years’ experience. But we evaluate and assess them, and they have the potential and the passion to learn.”

They start the apprenticeship with a full-time job on day No. 1, he said. They also receive classroom training and on-the-job training with a mentor.

After offering about 1,000 apprenticeships in 28 IT occupations — ranging from entry-level, help desk, network support to senior cyber technicians — the nonprofit was asked by Gov. Sarah Sanders to help in other sectors. As a result, the nonprofit added advanced manufacturing and health care in spring 2024, when the nonprofit was renamed Apprenticely.

“We’re actually finding that the demand for health care is equal to, if not more than, the IT occupations,” Yoder said. Still, IT comprises the majority of apprenticeships, but health care is gaining on IT.

The nonprofit also collaborates with Arkansas-based employers experiencing workforce challenges outside the state.

“We changed our sponsorship with the DOL [Department of Labor] to national, and we have a handful of companies that we work with that have workforce in other states,” Yoder said. “We follow the same process. We use all of our same technology to track and report. We do not have any people on the ground in those states.”

PROGRAM PROGRESS
Apprenticely’s internship program has been “a very good vehicle in Northwest Arkansas,” Yoder said. The Walton Family Foundation grant covered part of the intern’s wages, allowing the employer to have an intern for 12 weeks. More than 70% of the interns have been offered full-time employment after the internship.

“That puts them in a career with a very positive trajectory, life-changing for many of those individuals,” he said.

Yoder said Apprenticely has built a “process that scales. I think that’s what allowed us to go into other sectors. And the only thing we added was one individual that understands the occupations in that sector. They have credibility with the employers. Everything else remains the same.”

He expects growth in the health care and manufacturing sectors and looks to expand Apprenticely’s impact and become grant-funded.

“That’s … the five-year plan,” he said. “We’re doing over 500 apprentices a year now. I think that could grow to where we’re doing 750 to 1,000 a year.”

Apprenticely has 14 staff, half of whom are in Northwest Arkansas.

UPSKILL NWA
Carol Silva Moralez is president and CEO of Upskill NWA^[3], an operating entity of Rogers-based nonprofit Excellerate Foundation.

“We are recruiting nontraditional students who are low-income wage earners who have a dream to work in health care and change their families’ lives,” Moralez said.

Excellerate Foundation^[4] and the Walton Family Foundation each provided a $1.5 million grant to establish Upskill NWA, which was announced in 2021. It launched in January 2022 with 100 participants, all Northwest Arkansas residents. The nonprofit has five staff, all in Northwest Arkansas.

Last year, the Walton Family Foundation provided another $1.5 million grant to increase the participants. This past June, the participants increased to more than 400, all Northwest Arkansas residents.

“We have had tremendous success,” Moralez said.

Upskill NWA recruits participants and covers their training costs, required equipment, books, and fees, she said. Participants are assigned a career navigator to coach and mentor them throughout college.

Participants agree to work for one of the nonprofit’s hospital partners for two years, and Moralez said among those who’ve already reached the two-year milestone, the goal was to have a retention rate of 75%. The percentage is 88%.

The goal for graduates was at least 75% would have their annual salary increase to at least 80% of area median income or by $15,000 per year. Graduate income levels have risen by 132% or by $32,700 a year, “which is life-changing for them,” she said. The participants achieve this with the help of a group of stakeholders, both public and private, “who are all engaged to ensure … that Upskill NWA participant graduates from college and is then placed into a high-demand, high-wage job so that they can change their family’s economic trajectory.”

Over five years, she said the community return on investment is $14.2 million. This includes participants’ scholarships and living expenses.

Upskill NWA offers multiple certificate programs, including a licensed practical nurse program. It also offers associate degree programs, such as a registered nurse program, as well as four-year degree programs, including radiological imaging sciences. About two years ago, the nonprofit worked with NorthWest Arkansas Community College^[5] to create an education program for medical laboratory technicians after learning that one wasn’t available here, she said.

“NWACC launched it this fall with the first 10 med lab techs that are going to be in the workforce here in the next couple of years,” Moralez said. “That’s the power of having a system/community like this one, where we can start to connect the dots to create these pathways and curriculum for these high-demand, high-wage jobs.”

This year, she said the state of Arkansas has become an Upskill NWA funder. In the coming years, she expects the nonprofit will continue expanding in health care, but it might also expand into other sectors or different parts of the state.

MICRO-CREDENTIALS
Lucas Paxton, director of digital learning at NWACC, leads the micro-credentialing task force and initiative. Paxton said NWACC’s micro-credentialing program launched this fall. Between 20 and 40 staff have been involved in establishing and implementing the program, which was announced last year.

“It started with a single question from [NWACC President] Dr. [Dennis] Rittle of let’s bring micro-credentials to NWACC,” Paxton said. “And he said, ‘Lucas, can you do this?’ And I’m like, ‘Sure.’”

The Walton Family Foundation provided a $542,366 grant to support the program for three years. The program is being offered in partnership with Washington, D.C.-based Education Design Lab.

Paxton said the grant also allowed NWACC to hire someone to assist with the program. Mary Nithya Xavier is the micro-credential program coordinator at NWACC.
Micro-credentials are offered in general project management, biological technician and behavioral health.

Paxton said the goal is for students to earn micro-credentials within one year. The project management micro-credential is expected to be completed within 24 weeks, but students can complete it faster. Students who complete the following classes earn the micro-credential: basic, core and advanced.

Paxton said NWACC blended programs in construction and business management to create it. The skills students learn are “slightly under” those of a project management professional. Students can learn the skills of budgeting and time management to effectively run construction crews.

The biological technician micro-credential trains students to become laboratory operators. The micro-credential was integrated into the recently established associate degree and technical certification program, Paxton said.

Xavier said the micro-credentials in behavioral health comprise three pathways: youth services advocate, adult services advocate, and addiction services advocate. She said after students complete a pathway, they are ready for employment in that position.

Next year, Xavier expects NWACC to expand the micro-credential program in business and computer information systems to include cybersecurity, data analytics and web design. NWACC’s employer partners have also suggested micro-credentials in anthropology and geography. Soon, a micro-credential will be launched for bicycle technicians.

“That will be one of a kind,” she said. “It will be the only one that’s offered nationwide … It’s being done in partnership with the National Bicycle Dealers Association.”

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