Our Collaboration With Trade and Professional Associations

We believe that working together, we can accomplish more. In our history, we've partnered with professional associations and organizations that have a broad reach within particular professions or sectors of the economy. These partnerships have enabled us to serve more unemployed and underemployed individuals and meet the needs of employers with jobs to fill. Below are some of the organizations we've partnered with.

Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) is a nonprofit accreditation agency recognized by Council on Higher Education Accreditation and the US Department of Education. ACPE nationally and internationally accredits schools offering PharmD degrees, continuing pharmacy education and pharmacy technician certificates and degrees. In 2019 ACPE was awarded an Illinois apprenticeship grant to promote quality apprenticeship programs for pharmacy technicians. In 2020 ACPE was awarded a second apprenticeship grant to implement pharmacy technician apprenticeships in the State of Illinois.

IAA has partnered with ACPE to provide technical assistance on both grants to help maximize the impact of the grant dollars. IAA worked side by side with the ACPE team and Chicago-area hospital pharmacies, educating them on nontraditional apprenticeships.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is the international professional organization of Certified Public Accountants in the United States and around the globe, with more than 428,000 members in 130 countries. AICPA and IAA have partnered to bring opportunities in the field of finance to individuals through Registered Apprenticeship.

IAA partnered with National Healthcareers Association (NHA) when students of the Certified Clinical Medical Assisting program, run for Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, began the NHA certification process in 2013. IAA is also an approved NHA testing agency.

Students of IAA's Certified Pharmacy Technician apprenticeship program have sat for the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board's certification exam (PTCE) since 2013. Today, IAA's pharmacy technician program is PTCB-approved, making graduates of IAA programs eligible to sit for the PTCE.

The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) represents the businesses that develop, build, own and operate the nation’s wireless infrastructure. IAA and WIA worked together in recent years to develop a national set of apprenticeship standards to support the industry. Earlier this year, WIA was awarded a grant to further the development and implementation of telecommunications apprenticeships across the US. IAA staff provide technical assistance on this grant to maximize apprenticeship expansion strategies, as well as to provide grant management and employer technical assistance.