Rhode Island: State of the State

ESAC Rhode Island State Report – CY 2025

The Rhode Island Apprenticeship Office is the state registration agency fulfilling state responsibilities under the USDOL Registered Apprenticeship System and is part of the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training’s (DLT) Division of Professional Regulation. The Apprenticeship Office has 2.5 FTEs ₋ state director, Apprenticeship and Training Representative (ATR), and part time Implementation Aide. Through the US Department of Labor State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula (SAEF) grants and other sources, DLT funds a full time Apprenticeship Liaison in the Division of Workforce Development and a team at Building Futures, a community-based nonprofit that serves as the state apprenticeship agency (SAA) intermediary through the Apprenticeship Rhode Island (ARI) initiative.

Rhode Island has multiple initiatives aimed at 1) registered apprenticeship expansion, and 2) registered apprenticeship program quality and access. Over the past decade, ARI has established dozens of non-traditional apprenticeship programs across manufacturing, marine trades, agriculture, healthcare, education, and other industries, with 31 programs currently active. 2488 apprentices have entered those non-traditional apprenticeships, and 1057 have completed their apprenticeships, attaining full occupational competency, higher wages, and valued credentials. In 2024, Building Futures was awarded a competitive Apprenticeship Building America 2 (ABA2) grant from USDOL to formally establish its role as Rhode Island’s Registered Apprenticeship Hub. Building Futures’ ABA2 efforts have seen early success, with joint trade registered apprenticeship programs providing new energy-related certifications to over 290 apprentices, and with existing apprenticeships expanding with several new employers. For example, RI Department of Human Service’s Early Childhood Educator apprenticeship added nineteen (19) new employers through ABA2, facilitating access to registered apprenticeship-driven career growth for dozens more childcare workers.

Pre-apprenticeship programming is the most effective strategy for reaching underutilized populations through registered apprenticeship. Rhode Island’s process for certifying pre-apprenticeship programs has been in place for over a year.  To be certified as a pre-apprenticeship, programs must have established a relationship with at least one registered apprenticeship sponsor with the aim of placing participants in employment therein upon program completion. We are committed to tracking pre-apprenticeship participation with minimal burdens on the Apprenticeship Office. Our solution is to work with pre-apprenticeship providers and partner sponsors to make sure participation in pre-apprenticeship is recorded in RAPIDS upon registration. 

Presently there are pre-apprenticeship programs operating in landscaping, childcare, and the building trades. Building Futures’ community-based construction pre-apprenticeship, “BF200,” continues to be recognized as the gold standard for programs of its kind, and has now placed 500 individuals in family-sustaining registered apprenticeship employment. In 2023, Building Futures expanded its construction pre-apprenticeship by implementing an apprenticeship readiness program “behind the walls” at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections’ men’s minimum security facility. The first program of its kind in Rhode Island, “Building Futures Inside” has now graduated 54 individuals and has held classes in the medium and minimum security facilities is slated to expanded to medium security.

Rhode Island is on the leading edge of integrating mental health and recovery supports into registered apprenticeship, particularly in joint building trades registered apprenticeship programs. Since the inception of the “We’ve Got Your Back” recovery program in 2024, Building Futures’ Recovery Program reached 2,690 workers at jobsite visits, trained 481 industry workers as peers, allies, and in specific modalities related mental health and substance misuse disorder, and provided more than 440 clinical hours.  

 

Apprenticeship Statistics (Year 2025)

• 2,336 Active Apprentices: 2,086 in the building trades and 250 in non-trade programs, as of the close of 2025 
• 652 Active Sponsors: 621 in building trades and 31 in non-trade programs, as of the close of 2025 
• 1,071 New Apprentices started: 901 in the building trades and 170 in non-trade programs processed by the Apprenticeship Office in 2025 
• 578 Apprentices completed, processed by the Apprenticeship Office in 2025 
• 69 New Sponsors registered, processed by the Apprenticeship Office in 2025

 

State Apprenticeship Council

The 11-member Rhode Island Apprenticeship Council meets 10 times a year. The Departments of Education and Labor & Training have permanent ex-officio seats. The Council includes building trade as well as non-trade employers. The State Apprenticeship Council reviews new programs and makes a recommendation to the DLT Apprenticeship Office as to whether they merit approval. The highly-engaged Council has been key to driving continuous improvement. 

 

Workforce Partnerships

The DLT’s Apprenticeship Liaison continues to promote WIOA supports to employers. Desk references and policies have been updated to address on-the-ground realities of making these services work for apprenticeship. The Workforce System Apprentice Liaison met with American Job Center coaches to review procedures for connecting job seekers with apprenticeship and qualifying apprentices for WIOA resources.

In July 2023, Governor McKee signed a bill into law mandating that public postsecondary institutions to identify degrees achievable through apprenticeship and establish corresponding pathways. Since then, Building Futures has supported postsecondary institutions in refining policies in alignment with this legislation and implementing said policies. To that end, in 2025, Building Futures worked closely with stakeholders at Rhode Island’s public postsecondary institutions to develop degree-connected apprenticeships and articulate apprenticeships for college credit. In an example of best practices in connecting institutes of higher education to workforce development, the Institute for Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies at Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI), in partnership with Citizens Bank and Building Futures, launched Rhode Island’s first Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) for Information Security Analysts. The inaugural cohort will place eligible cybersecurity students who have transferred from CCRI to Rhode Island College into full-time, paid roles at Citizens Bank and provide structured, employer-aligned training designed to prepare participants for in-demand jobs in a rapidly evolving field.

 

Budget

Core funding and FTE for the Apprenticeship Office is supplemented directly by the USDOL State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula (SAEF) grant. 

Since inception, ARI has successfully obtained $22.8M of federal funding for registered apprenticeship for Rhode Island. In 2025, Rhode Island was awarded a State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula (SAEF) grant as well as a competitive one-time SAEF award to expand the use of pre-apprenticeship in Rhode Island’s construction, manufacturing, and early childhood sectors, complementing the $3.8M Apprenticeship Building America grant award made to Building Futures in 2024.