The social justice and equality movement of 2020 represents a once in a 50-60-year opportunity to make meaningful change in a most persistent U.S. problem. Enormous amounts of goodwill exist across demographics for a reckoning that improves systemic conditions laid down by centuries of now-indefensible cultural assumptions. We know that all men and women are created equal and that social conditions, not race, determine the degree of human potential each citizen eventually contributes to their communities and this great nation. The lost human and economic potential is recognized by a majority of Americans as just plain wrong. What’s more, the pandemic of 2020 will require major efforts to rebuild our economy, providing a confluence of opportunity.

Apprenticeship programs hold the key to meeting the demand of employers of employers for a highly skilled workforce to fill advanced manufacturing positions.