News

The Mountain Home Area Chamber of Commerce is leading an initiative to make Baxter County a Work Ready Community, with support from Arkansas State University-Mountain Home and the Mountain Home Public School District. Businesses interested in implementing the WorkKeys system can register through the ACT WorkKeys Employer Registration Form. They can also contact Dani Pugsley at the Mountain Home Chamber of Commerce or Becca Camp at Mountain Home Public Schools for more information.

The relationship between local industry and students in high school is reaping rewards to manufacturers who recognize the value of staying proactive, according to Brian Heffron, administrator of workforce development and community relations at the Center for Instruction, Technology & Innovation (CiTi) and a champion of New York's first certified WRC.

The elite WRC certification indicates a county’s workforce quality and skills, said Lynette Livingston, CVTC provost and vice president of Academic and Student Affairs. Although Eau Claire is the first county in Wisconsin to earn the designation, 559 communities throughout the United States currently are certified. 

In Episode 49 of Ready for Work, we continue our series of FRED Talks from the ACT Workforce Summit. Tracy Robinson from the University of Memphis shares her experience working with adult learners and the challenges they face in balancing education with other life responsibilities. The University of Memphis has made significant changes to accommodate adult learners, just in time for employer giant FedEx to seek the university’s help. It’s a successful model that the University replicated with the City of Memphis, a regional hospital chain, and Nike, among others.

Work for Warriors, a program from the Mississippi National Guard, celebrated the success of a recent pilot with the WorkKeys NCRC.  All 154 soldiers statewide earned the National Career Readiness Certificate from ACT. More than half of those newly certified guard members are eager to connect with local employers. 

The Mississippi National Guard’s Battle Hand Off Ceremony is July 19th through 21st at the Camp Shelby Joint Force Training Center in Hattiesburg. Employers slated to attend include AWS, Milwaukee Tool, NUCOR Steel, and Continental Tire. Work for Warriors encourages all local employers with current openings to attend.

Will Coppage is a creative community developer. From the main stage of the ACT Workforce Summit, Will helped us explore the concept of wonder in art and its power to draw us in repeatedly. Will shows us how this principle applies to community development, emphasizing the importance of fostering creativity, maintaining a positive community appearance, and promoting workforce skills. The episode concludes with exciting news of a storytelling event at the 2024 Workforce Summit in Atlanta.

Extending the congratulations to Rutherford County as a newly-certified Work Ready Community, local champion Beth Duffield was recognized for her commitment to building a robust talent pipeline for Middle Tennesse.  

Missouri Governor Mike Parson made a special visit to the Schuyler County R-1 School District Tuesday morning. In this news video from KTVO, Parson was in Queen City to present a certificate to honor them for achieving Work Ready Community status, something that could get these students ready for the next chapter in their lives.

Rutherford County has earned the official designation of an ACT Work Ready Community. This achievement spotlights a longstanding partnership between industry and education in Rutherford County to develop a highly skilled workforce, resulting in county-wide economic growth.

Competitiveness is the point of the Prosperity Cup, according to Site Selection magazine's announcement. Criteria include activity from Site Selection's Conway Projects database, business and tax climate rankings, and an index of National Career Readiness Certificates per thousand in population (18-64)