Disability Subcommittee Plans Apprenticeship Forum, Targets May 28

BOSTON — April 30, 2026 — Massachusetts disability panel moves to bring apprenticeships to human services workforce, eyes May 28 forum. The Joint Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities' Workforce Support Subcommittee met April 30 to plan an event spotlighting apprenticeship access for people with disabilities and the workers who support them, with Chair Denise Garlick reporting that disability went entirely unmentioned at the Boston Chambers of Commerce annual apprenticeship conference despite Governor Maura Healey's statewide goal of 100,000 registered apprentices. The group narrowed its target industries to childcare and home health, debated whether a $250 employer participation fee discourages small providers, and discussed adding a behavioral health apprenticeship track after Undersecretary Josh Cutler raised the model at the conference. A representative of the Commission for the Blind said internships have succeeded for his population but formal apprenticeships have remained "a little bit tougher for one reason or another." The subcommittee agreed to propose May 28 at 11 a.m. to trade associations ADDP and ABH, with outreach to a state liaison pending a reply from the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.