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The certification means that Jasper County (and Newton is not far behind) has reached key thresholds in the number of existing workers, graduating students and businesses that participate in ACT™s Career-Ready Certification process. It™s a great start, but we need to keep up the effort and the interest.

Bring on the jobs. Jasper County is ready. In fact, Jasper County is the first county in the nation participating in the national ACT Certified Work Ready Communities initiative to meet 100 percent of ACT™s criteria goals. Not far behind are an additional 13 Missouri counties on track to become fully certified within two years.

Nikki Haley urged counties to join forces with the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforces Work Ready initiative, announced in February as a means of helping to bridge the gap between the states workforce and job placement.

Twenty students completed this first portion of training, which ran for six weeks and focused on critical thinking, math, and applied technology skills and prepared them for pre-employment aptitude tests and the ACT National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC).

The Work Hard-Work Smart initiative, spearheaded by the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce & Industry, has helped more than 1,200 community members receive their National Career Readiness Certificate.

The Work Hard-Work Smart initiative has arranged for ACT authorized job profilers to assess jobs in Wichita Falls and Vernon during the next couple of weeks in its pursuit to stimulate the regional economy, make local employers more successful, and get the unemployed and underemployed back to work.