In 2022, The Council of State Governments Center of Innovation partnered with Apprenticeship Colorado, which is a part of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE), to develop a Public Sector Apprenticeship Toolkit to provide guidance for expanding the number of registered apprenticeships offered by Colorado state agencies. The partnership was initiated after Governor Jared Polis signed Executive Order D 2022-027, which directed the CDLE and Department of Personnel and Administration to increase public sector apprenticeship offerings by 20% by June 2023.

Like Colorado, many other states are interested in using apprenticeship as a tool to address labor shortages in state and local government. The following toolkit has been adapted from the Colorado guide to serve as a resource for state, county and city governments across the country when implementing public sector apprenticeship programs. The goal of the toolkit is to educate state leadership on the benefits and implementation of registered apprenticeship programs and support them to identify and address common barriers.