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The Work Ready Communities of Eastern Indiana Works Region 6 developed the Telecoach model enabling customers to connect remotely with a career coach.  "If customers are tech-saavy and enabled, they can work wiht one of our employees without having to meet face-to-face. We can help them with everything from the initial assessment, enrollment, interview preparation, re-employment plan creation, or resume building. Whehter you're unable to visit a center or simply don't want to, we can serve you," noted Project Director Wayne Williams.

I’m honored for the opportunity to serve on this important board,” Freeland said. “Through its diverse skills-training programs and participation in ACT Work Ready Communities, MGCCC has been a key partner of the Foundation and the industries we work so closely with. I look forward to helping further develop these programs and relationships that align a prepared workforce with employer demands and needs.

White has led the NLEP workforce program since 2008 and was named Executive Vice President in January 2020. She coordinates the North Louisiana Ready2Work partnership, a coalition of economic and workforce development agencies, educational institutions, local governments, non-profit organizations and employers in North Louisiana working to grow awareness and use of ACT WorkKeys as a measure of workforce skills. For this work, she was named 2019 Louisiana ACT Workforce Champion and is a member of the national ACT Work Ready Communities Council. 

ACT has developed an interactive database to view and compare occupation types according to the levels of contact needed to perform the jobs in each occupation. The dashboard uses O*NET skills data to define "high contact" occupations that have a high level of Physical proximity, Face-to-face discussion, or Contact with others. Economic and workforce developers can use the tool to determine which occupations have likely been impacted by pandemic-related layoffs, and which might be impacted in the future.

As part of their Workforce Rally webinar series, the University of Missouri Extension will host “Work Ready System Recovery for COVID-Resilient Workforce Ecosystems” on May 13.

Regional workforce ecosystems must retool for the future following the pandemic. In this Zoom workshop, ACT Workforce Solutions and Work Ready Communities will help participants navigate challenging times and prepare for inevitable impacts on communities. Hear from WRC champions around the nation on efforts they’ve implemented to help move the dial in overcoming these challenges.

As a pandemic impacts communities everywhere, regional workforce ecosystems must implement reemployment strategies to become more adaptable. Hear stories of resilience happening real-time. Check out Episode 21 of Ready for Work on our podcast page.

The Southwest Region of Tennessee, in conjunction with The National Rural Education Association and the Tennessee Board of Regents, has developed the Career Resource Network to help strengthen economic development in rural communities within the region. This regional digital portal provides one-stop access to resources and tools for school, staff, parents, and students in Chester, Henderson, Decatur and Perry regions.

Latanza presented at the 2020 Annual ACT Conference on Preble County’s ACT Work Ready Community goals and status. The partnership also maintained their ACT Work Ready Communities status in March of 2020.

In 2020, we will continue with our signature programs for developing community leadership through Leadership Iberia, the FireStarter Project, and INSPIRE as well we remain active in local, state, and federal public policy issues.