State Apprenticeship Chief Calls on Disability Commission to Help Expand Programs

BOSTON — February 26, 2026 — Massachusetts apprenticeship chief urges disability commission to become intermediary for human services workforce programs. Undersecretary of Labor Josh Cutler, a former state representative, briefed the Joint Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities on February 26, telling members the Healey-Driscoll Administration has registered 10,000 apprenticeships and wants to push the earn-while-you-learn model into direct-care and human services fields. Cutler described the Registered Apprenticeship Tax Credit — $4,800 per apprentice, claimable twice over a two-year apprenticeship, capped at $100,000 per employer annually — and noted it can be stacked with the Disability Employment Tax Credit of $4,000 at hire plus $2,000 per year of continued employment. The administration's GROW grants, which totaled roughly $2.1 million in the most recent cycle, are available to nonprofits and intermediaries that help stand up new programs. Commission members, led by former Labor Secretary Rachel Kaprilian, proposed hosting a targeted virtual panel with the administration's regional apprenticeship liaisons and disability-sector employers, with sterile processing technicians and radiological technicians named as priority occupations; Cutler asked the subcommittee to identify two or three specific roles so his team could bring an active program sponsor to a future meeting.