DAS Apprenticeship Innovation Funding (web)
Citation
California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS). “Apprenticeship Innovation Funding (AIF).” Web page, updated September 2026. https://dir.ca.gov/DAS/Grants/Apprenticeship-Innovation-Funding.html. Read 2026-11-09. Copy: raw/web/2026-11-09 DAS Apprenticeship Innovation Funding.html.
Bottom line
- Apprenticeship Innovation Funding (AIF) is a state formula fund for registered apprenticeships outside the building and fire trades, information technology included.
- The state allocated $95 million and DAS awarded $72,038,367 in four rounds. AIF pays $3,500 for each active apprentice each year and $10.32 for each training hour.
Background
DAS registers and oversees apprenticeships in California. The page gives the fund rules, the Round 4 (fiscal year 2025 to 2026) timeline, the award amounts and the results of each round. The sectors are those of the Interagency Advisory Committee on Apprenticeships (IACA).
Key claims
- “AIF focuses on sustaining and scaling registered apprenticeship programs beyond the building and fire trades—industries such as healthcare, advanced manufacturing, information technology, education, and many more.” (introduction)
- “The state has allocated $95 million to support ongoing costs of these programs and classroom training.” (introduction)
- “Amount: $3500 per active apprentice per year, prorated to the month, along with $1000 per apprentice completion bonus” (Funding Details, AIF - Support Funding)
- “Amount: $10.32 per training hour per apprentice” (Funding Details, AIF - Training Funding)
- “The funding model is not a competitive grant, as the mechanism ensures that funds awarded are distributed in a transparent and equitable manner, with the goal of expanding apprenticeship opportunities across many sectors.” (Awardees)
- The Awardee Highlights table gives 6,012 apprentices served with support funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 and 9,756 in fiscal year 2025 to 2026. Total awards are $17,358,198, $24,827,724, $29,852,845 and $15,984,814 for the four years. (Awardees, table)
- “With limited funding, caps were imposed per program, which reduced the overall funding amount awarded despite sustained and growing demand.” (introduction, note on Round 4)
Evidence and method
An agency fund page. It gives allocations, award totals, apprentice counts, training hours and average wages for each fiscal year from 2022 to 2026. The awardee lists are separate PDF and Excel files, not part of this copy.
Limits
The page does not break the totals down by sector, so it does not show the amount for IT or AI apprenticeships. The round totals in the introduction ($17.3 million, $24.8 million, $29.8 million, $16 million) round the table totals.