Healthcare faces a critical workforce shortage—over 2 million unfilled positions nationwide, while training programs struggle with funding gaps. RTIs bear tuition and curriculum development expenses, employers shoulder wage reimbursements and OJT supervision, and learners need comprehensive support services to succeed. When these costs fall on single stakeholders, programs fail. But smart RTIs and employers are discovering a solution: braided funding partnerships that distribute risk while maximizing available resources.
The Braided Funding Solution
Multiple funding streams reduce single-stakeholder financial burden while creating more robust, sustainable programs. Instead of RTIs scrambling to cover all educational costs or employers absorbing full wage expenses, braided funding creates shared investment models where each stakeholder contributes their strengths while accessing diverse funding sources.
The key is understanding how WIOA, Perkins V, and state grants complement each other rather than compete. When properly coordinated, these funding streams cover comprehensive program costs while simultaneously ensuring compliance across multiple requirements.
Division of Roles: Who Pays for What
Employers leverage WIOA funding for wage reimbursements during clinical rotations and OJT phases. Workforce Development Boards provide access to supportive services like childcare, transportation, and career counseling—often the difference between completion and dropout. Employers also benefit from tax credits and state-specific incentive programs to encourage apprenticeship participation.
RTIs align with Perkins V allocations for tuition coverage, equipment purchases, and instructor professional development. This federal career and technical education funding specifically supports the classroom instruction component of apprenticeships, making it natural for RTIs to lead Perkins V applications while coordinating with employer partners.
Workforce Development Boards serve as conveners, connecting programs to state grants and administering WIOA Title I funding. Their regional focus and labor market expertise make them ideal partners for accessing specialized healthcare workforce initiatives and ensuring programs align with local demand.
Sample Partnership Workflow
Joint Planning Phase: RTIs and employers meet with workforce board representatives to map funding opportunities against program components. Each stakeholder identifies their capacity to contribute—RTIs bring educational infrastructure, employers provide clinical sites and mentorship, and workforce boards access funding and regulatory expertise.
Funding Architecture Development: Create clear cost-sharing models and data-sharing protocols. Define which organization serves as the official sponsor for different funding streams. Establish liability distribution and determine reporting responsibilities to avoid duplication while ensuring compliance.
Shared Reporting Implementation: Deploy integrated systems that capture data once but serve multiple reporting requirements. Platforms like Craft Connect automate WIOA, DOL, and Perkins V compliance simultaneously, eliminating redundant data entry while maintaining audit-ready records for all stakeholders.
Platform Integration Benefits
Modern apprenticeship management platforms eliminate the administrative complexity that typically derails partnership efforts. Automated compliance reporting handles PIRL, WIOA, and Perkins V requirements through single data entry, while real-time funding utilization tracking prevents overspending against grant allocations.
Role-based access ensures employers see their apprentices' progress without accessing competitor data, while RTIs maintain oversight of educational milestones across multiple clinical sites. Audit-ready documentation is generated automatically, creating comprehensive compliance trails without additional administrative burden.
Building Durable Healthcare Apprenticeship Ecosystems
Braided funding partnerships help healthcare apprenticeship programs survive and scale. When RTIs, employers, and workforce boards work together, programs last longer, serve more learners, and lower per-participant costs.
Ready to see how braided funding can work for your healthcare apprenticeship program?
Schedule a quick demo to see how Craft Connect makes multi-stakeholder coordination and compliance easy.
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