News

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.

A steel facility engineered to bring together the most advanced technology is coming soon to the Work Ready Community of Mississippi County, AR and Osceloa.  This first use of endless casting and rolling technology in the United States brings significant energy, efficiency, and capability enhancements to the company’s operations.

The economic development office for Preble County — the Preble County Development Partnership — celebrated 10 years of collaboration during a special investor event. some of the things that make Preble County attractive to developers is that it is a Certified ACT Work Ready Community, provides quick access to Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis, is located near the crossroads of America and is a single day’s drive to 60 percent of the USA and Canadian populations.

The Work Ready Community of Butler County landed 175 new jobs for True Manufacturing with a new $21 facility in Poplar Bluff, MO. With more than 3.7 million square feet across its Missouri manufacturing facilities, True Manufacturing is committed to products that are designed, engineered, and manufactured in the United States. The company’s new facility will enable expanded production of its current line of products and occupy all 54 acres of Poplar Bluff’s newest industrial park.

Scott County, Virginia, a Work Ready Community in progress, netted 30 new jobs with an expansion of VFP, Inc. The Southwest Virginia region competed against Missouri and Oklahoma to win the expansion. Company leaders and elected officials cited workforce quality as a key factor in a press release from Gov. Northam.

With increased investment in apprenticeship comes increased expectations. ACT joined forces with local apprenticeships successful in skills-based hiring and national thought leaders on what’s needed to boost quality and completions in apprenticeship. Coming out of this collaboration is a new toolkit from ACT. We packed the toolkit with resources and scalable options of good, better, and best to provide apprenticeship coordinators flexibility in how to organize their efforts. The toolkit is organized into nine elements to boost quality and apprenticeship, across the domains of learning, working, and thriving.

Cleco announced applications are being accepted for its Power of a Promise Scholarship which  includes full tuition, books, a stipend for incidentals and a paid internship at the company's  Brame Energy Center near Boyce, La. A combination of skill attributes includes WorkKeys as a qualification option.

The National Association of Workforce Boards showcased the West Michigan Works region for promosing practices in meeting needs of employers. The article includes tips on building strong partnerships, devoting resources, incentives, support, and cohorts.