In this context, an intermediary is an organization that sits at the center of the education‑to‑work ecosystem and orchestrates the partnerships, programs, and funding needed to create seamless pathways from school to meaningful careers.

An intermediary:

• Provides leadership and management capacity so that K–12 schools, colleges, workforce agencies, and employers can each play their roles in a coordinated way, rather than operating in silos.​

• Designs and maintains pathways systems—intentionally sequenced academic, work‑based, and support experiences—that help learners move from high school through postsecondary education into good jobs with upward mobility.​

• Brokers partnerships and serves as a single, trusted point of contact for employers and community organizations, aligning work‑based learning, internships, and apprenticeships with what students are learning in school.​

• Braids and manages funding from multiple sources (for example, K–12 funds, WIOA, philanthropy) to sustain programs and reduce the coordination burden on individual schools and businesses.​

• Centers on listening and using data to ensure that pathways and work‑based opportunities reach students who have been historically underserved, and on adjusting programming based on feedback from youth, families, and employers.​

In our case, the intermediary role would mean CAM Pathways designs the competency‑based “work-ready” pathway, connects high schools, micro-schools, colleges, workforce boards, and local employers, manages ACE‑evaluated and work‑based learning components, and stewards the combined Hope + WIOA + community partnership model so that students experience one integrated system rather than a patchwork of separate programs.

Community Partnership

Workforce Readiness

What is an Intermediary

• U.S. Department of Labor – Apprenticeship.gov (Overview)
  https://www.apprenticeship.gov
  National hub explaining what Registered Apprenticeship is, how it combines paid on‑the‑job learning with related instruction, and how youth, employers, and intermediaries can participate.​

• U.S. Department of Labor – Registered Apprenticeship Industry Intermediaries
  https://www.apprenticeship.gov/investments-tax-credits-and-tuition-support/registered-apprenticeship-industry-intermediaries
  Describes how federally supported “industry intermediaries” help expand apprenticeship by recruiting employers, designing programs, and providing technical assistance—exactly the kind of coordination role your nonprofit would play.​

• U.S. Department of Labor – Expanding Registered Apprenticeship Through WIOA Title I and Title II Partnerships (TEGL resource)
  https://dolcoe.safalapps.com/sites/default/files/2025-06/Expanding%20RA%20Through%20WIOA%20Title%20I%20and%20Title%20II%20Partnerships.pdf
  Explains how workforce boards and training providers can use WIOA funds to support apprenticeship, with emphasis on connectors/intermediaries that link schools, training, and employers.​

• U.S. Department of Education (OCTAE) – Employability Skills Framework
  https://cte.ed.gov/initiatives/employability-skills-framework
  Not apprenticeship‑only, but outlines the cross‑cutting skills (communication, teamwork, problem‑solving) that apprenticeships and intermediaries are expected to help students master for workforce readiness.​

• ERIC (ED‑linked) – Youth Apprenticeships Give Students Brighter Futures
  https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED610107.pdf
  U.S. case examples showing how youth apprenticeships connect high school, postsecondary, and employment, often with an intermediary organization coordinating partners and supports.​

Together, these show the federal view of apprenticeship as structured, paid training that leads to credentials and good jobs, and of intermediaries as the organizations that design, broker, and sustain those talent pipelines across education, workforce, and industry.

Additional Resources