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Harrison County working to be ACT Work Ready certified October 07, 2019

GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - Harrison County is now part of the ACT Work Ready Initiative. The program sets up training for high school career-tech students, so they’ll be ready to meet the needs of future employers.

Thirty-five counties in Mississippi are certified, while 48 counties are taking part in the program. Harrison County is one of those pushing towards certification.

"The clock starts ticking, we have two years from today to get those 479 folks and 82 employers we need to be certified,” said Mel Arsenault, Port of Gulfport external affairs

County, city start ‘work ready initiative October 07, 2019

Wise County and Norton have launched an effort to become certified “work ready” communities as judged by an initiative of the data processing company ACT.

According to a press release issued last week, the process began Sept. 24 with a kickoff ceremony at the Virginia Career Works Center in Norton, demonstrating the localities’ “commitment to developing a strong workforce pipeline, desirable to employers, economic developers and current and future citizens of the county.”

PARTNERS FORGING NEW WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE HOLD KICKOFF EVENT October 07, 2019

A strategic gathering of workforce development stakeholders and business and industry leaders to announce a best-practice framework for community-wide implementation of the National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC). The collaborative effort will make Dodge County the second Nebraska county (after Douglas County certified in 2018) to be named an ACT certified Work Ready Community – characterized by a sustainable infrastructure to close skills gaps. Further advantages, such as linking education and workforce development, achieving alignment to economic development and matching people to job opportunities, are also expected outcomes of the initiative.

Podcast: Workforce Summit Preview October 03, 2019

This bonus episode of Ready for Work includes information on the 2019 ACT Workforce Summit in Charlotte, NC, October 28-30. We chat with some of the presenters to give a sneak peek at the conference content. This episode wraps up with feedback from attendees of last year's summit. Visit act.org/workforcesummit for agenda and event info.

 

ACT Work Ready Initiative kicks off in Harrison County October 02, 2019

Today the Harrison County community took a step for the future of workforce ready employees in their community. It was the kickoff for their county wide ‘ACT Work Ready Initiative,’ which more than 25,000 employers are a part of nationwide.

“We can’t all be rocket scientists. Someone has to build the darn things.” That’s how guest-speaker Dr. Ruth Nichols with Alcorn State University described the need for this ‘ACT Work Ready Initiative’ in Harrison County. “It’s going to boost this county to a place that it had no idea it could be economically.”

Podcast: Next Level Apprenticeships and Work-Based Learning September 28, 2019

Work-based or “on-the-job” learning through apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs benefits learners from all education and socioeconomic levels and put them on a fast track to high-wage, nationally portable careers. In this episode of “Ready for Work," we talk to leaders in postsecondary education and business about the use of work-based learning programs at the community level and the personal and economic results that can be gained from creating such programs.

County, CAEDC launch ACT Work Ready Initiative Expedites prepared, local workforce September 26, 2019

Cherokee County and Cherokee Area Economic Development Corporation (CAEDC) announce they have engaged in the process to become a certified ACT Work Ready Community.

Four Tennessee Counties Aided by USDA Grant September 18, 2019

Tennessee's Board of Regents and the National Rural Education Association partnered to secure a new grant to build skills and credentials in the Work Ready Communities participating counties of Chester, Decatur, Henderson and Perry. Important components of the grant project are increasing technical career awareness among K-12 students and increasing dual enrollment opportunities that allow high school students to take classes to earn college credit and technical career certifications at the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCATs) serving the area. Resources will be allocated for dual-enrolled students to earn certifications that pave the way for careers in their fields, including the National Career Readiness Certification.

Podcast: WRC Journey to Regional Prosperity September 14, 2019

Work Ready Communities from ACT help regions align their resources and leadership for a competitive workforce that meets employer needs and generates regional prosperity. Today on Ready for Work, we’re covering the journey to become a Work Ready Community.

In this episode, you’ll hear from the voices of local and state leaders on behalf of Work Ready Communities, including Angie White of Louisiana, Gov. Asa Hutchison of Arkansas, Will Coppage from Mississippi, and Nate Kubicek of Crossland Construction in Kansas.

You’ll also hear from ACT’s Work Ready team on how to build and train the leaders to execute strategies, how goals are set for certification, how ACT helps regions engage their employers for success, data and information leveraging, recertification, alumni resources, and more.

Also in this episode:

  • The ingredients that make a Work Ready Community successful
  • How high-quality workforce initiatives help employers meet skill demands
  • How to engage counties and employers in these initiatives
  • How good data leads to workforce goal attainment
  • How Work Ready Community alumni power the group as a whole
  • Why more than 80% of Work Ready Communities improve business retention and expansion, even among startups
National credential shows P-TECH students ready for workforce September 14, 2019

More than 30 Oswego County high schoolers proved they already have the skills to join the workforce when they recently earned a national work-readiness credential. A total of 34 students in the Oswego County Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) received their ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) in a ceremony at Onondaga Community College after completing assessments determining their skills with workplace documents, applied math and graphic literacy. The ACT WorkKeys initiative, which is partially funded by the Richard S. Shineman Foundation and Operation Oswego County, is offered at no cost to students or their families.

P-TECH students simultaneously earn their Regents Diploma and an Associate in Applied Science Degree in either Electrical Engineering Technology or Mechanical Technology, and also gain industry experience.  The students are the first from the Oswego County P-TECH program to receive the NCRC credential.