Durant tells council Prince George's County has the assets to scale apprenticeships

Latifah Durant, vice president of innovation at City Works DC, told the committee Prince George's County already has the building blocks to expand high‑quality apprenticeship programs and urged the council to design incentives that reward deeper employer commitments and to measure net new apprenticeship activity.

Durant said the county should "help businesses to design apprenticeships for value, to be able to align the occupation to a real business need," and explained that apprenticeship participation should be made easy for employers who are at differing readiness points. She recommended a menu of incentives — procurement points, recognition, expedited permitting and wage subsidies — and emphasized that small businesses may need more front‑loaded support.

Durant cited examples from her work with PGCPS and CareerWise DC: PGCPS registered apprenticeship programs have placed students into maintenance and construction roles and CareerWise DC has served more than 90 apprentices and engaged more than 20 business partners. She warned that annual activity counts alone will not show whether incentives led to net new apprenticeship opportunities and urged clearer definitions, data sharing, and measures such as wage progression and retention.

Durant also highlighted wraparound services used in other jurisdictions — one‑on‑one career coaching, transportation supports, and real‑time case management for student barriers — and told the committee these lower operational hurdles that otherwise prevent employer participation. "The takeaway here is that while apprenticeship is the deepest in the commitment that we're looking for, it's not the only one," she said.

The committee invited Durant to future roundtables and asked staff to consider how the incentives and reporting requirements in the recently enacted CB 37 20 26 can be operationalized to sustain employer participation.