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Drew County now joins eight other Southeast Arkansas counties to form the largest contiguous ACT Work Ready region in the state of Arkansas, according to Jerry Bayliss, Jr., Drew County's WRC Coordinator. The University of Arkansas at Monticello became actively engaged in the initiative as part of an award to the UAM College of Technology-Crossett from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education Regional Workforce Planning, Implementation and Continuation Grants.

The Texarkana USA Regional Chamber of Commerce Foundation has been awarded a $331,988 grant from the T.L.L. Temple Foundation to further their efforts in workforce development in the region. The grant is to be distributed over a three-year period. The goals of the program are for Miller and Bowie County to earn and sustain ACT® Work Ready Communities (ACT® WRC) certification.

Warren School District is participating in the ACT WorkKeys assessment, and several students will graduate from Warren High School with the opportunity to receive the National Career Readiness Certification (NCRC.) Act 319 of 2021 prompted the state Board of Education to approve the ACT WorkKeys assessment for all high school students to have the opportunity to earn a nationally-recognized work readiness certificate before they graduate.

Cooperative Response Center (CRC), a nationwide contact and alarm monitoring center, announced today it will open a new facility in Kirksville in the Work Ready Community of Adair County. Investing more than $1 million and creating more than 87 new jobs, the new facility will be CRC’s first Missouri location and allow the company to meet increasing demand for its services.

Central Arkansas high school students have the chance to earn a work readiness certificate before they graduate, and the unique test can not only get graduates hired but also paid a higher wage.

Recently, 101 Melbourne High School students received the ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certification with 14 of them receiving the top level Platinum Certification setting an 86 percent pass rate for students taking the assessment. At any level of education, these “real world” job skills are valuable for various career paths for employers, creating an advantage for applicants which include showing prospective employers concrete proof of your skills.

MRED President Mike Kelley said organization's goal is to guide new business owners as they work to establish themselves in the community. Kelley said he has been working with the state of Missouri to re-establish Moniteau County's Work Ready Community program. He said the county is still 14 workers short of receiving their National Career Readiness certificate. However, MRED will be working with local schools over the next several months in order to get students their certification and prepared for the program.

In addition to publishing the annual State of the States rankings, Site Selection Magazine's January edition provided workforce development rankings for each state, categorized by multi-state U.S. regions. Like the State of the States, Site Selection utilizes ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificates in building the index.

During its annual investor celebration last month, the Preble County Development Partnership welcomed back a key person in the creation of the public-private economic development entity to share some history of the PCDP, which recently celebrated its first decade in existence.

Where people are located and how the infrastructure serves them depend in large part on where opportunity and growth are occurring. That’s where Site Selection’s annual State of the States report comes into play. ACT's WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate drives the workforce quality portion of the index.