News

Now more than ever, public libraries are valuable extensions of local workforce development. In many Work Ready Communities, libraries are helpful testing partners as well. The Atlanta Federal Reserve showcased how libraries are mobilizing for the economic fallout associated with COVID-19 such as facilitating unemployment insurance enrollment, referrals to food banks, and other services for immediate needs. Library staff are also thinking longer term about how shelter-in-place orders could expand telework in the future, how libraries can continue to support small businesses and entrepreneurs, and how they will continue to assist job seekers to connect to training opportunities and prepare for job openings.

The ACT Work Ready Community (WRC) of Clark County, NV netted high honors today by the National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB). The prestigious Laurie Moran Partnership Award from NAWB holds a special meaning to ACT's Work Ready Communities family as well. Laurie Moran was one of the first members of the advisory board that launched WRC. NAWB presented the award during their national Forum conference. Check out the video overview of Clark County's accomplishments.

Governor Ralph Northam today announced that Metalworx, Inc., a manufacturer of highly-engineered and precision-manufactured components, assemblies, and products for a variety of industries, will invest $7.6 million to relocate its headquarters and manufacturing functions from South Carolina to the former Core Fitness Complex in Grayson County. Virginia successfully competed with North Carolina for the project, which will create 59 new jobs.

While 2020 presents the most challenging year yet for local workforce ecosystems, ACT is pleased to announce two new toolkits to navigate recovery and resource development. The first is ACT's Grant Proposal Developer Toolkit. Using a logic model approach, the toolkit helps overcome common pitfalls in proposal development. The toolkit also helps strengthen proposals with relevant data, situational analysis, and ideal objectives. The toolkit can help you convert strategies into actions and ACT’s workforce solutions into winning outcomes.  

The second toolkit, Resilient Workforce Ecosystems Leading Skills-Based Disaster and Economic Recovery, guides local planners and leaders deploy the five-part ALEDA model to navigate new complexities.  The five components include adapt, lead, deploy, engage, and analyze.

For more information on the toolkits and to get connected with an ACT colleague, please send an email to wrc@act.org.  

The Work Ready Communities of Eastern Indiana Works Region 6 developed the Telecoach model enabling customers to connect remotely with a career coach.  "If customers are tech-saavy and enabled, they can work wiht one of our employees without having to meet face-to-face. We can help them with everything from the initial assessment, enrollment, interview preparation, re-employment plan creation, or resume building. Whehter you're unable to visit a center or simply don't want to, we can serve you," noted Project Director Wayne Williams.

I’m honored for the opportunity to serve on this important board,” Freeland said. “Through its diverse skills-training programs and participation in ACT Work Ready Communities, MGCCC has been a key partner of the Foundation and the industries we work so closely with. I look forward to helping further develop these programs and relationships that align a prepared workforce with employer demands and needs.

White has led the NLEP workforce program since 2008 and was named Executive Vice President in January 2020. She coordinates the North Louisiana Ready2Work partnership, a coalition of economic and workforce development agencies, educational institutions, local governments, non-profit organizations and employers in North Louisiana working to grow awareness and use of ACT WorkKeys as a measure of workforce skills. For this work, she was named 2019 Louisiana ACT Workforce Champion and is a member of the national ACT Work Ready Communities Council. 

ACT has developed an interactive database to view and compare occupation types according to the levels of contact needed to perform the jobs in each occupation. The dashboard uses O*NET skills data to define "high contact" occupations that have a high level of Physical proximity, Face-to-face discussion, or Contact with others. Economic and workforce developers can use the tool to determine which occupations have likely been impacted by pandemic-related layoffs, and which might be impacted in the future.

As part of their Workforce Rally webinar series, the University of Missouri Extension will host “Work Ready System Recovery for COVID-Resilient Workforce Ecosystems” on May 13.

Regional workforce ecosystems must retool for the future following the pandemic. In this Zoom workshop, ACT Workforce Solutions and Work Ready Communities will help participants navigate challenging times and prepare for inevitable impacts on communities. Hear from WRC champions around the nation on efforts they’ve implemented to help move the dial in overcoming these challenges.

As a pandemic impacts communities everywhere, regional workforce ecosystems must implement reemployment strategies to become more adaptable. Hear stories of resilience happening real-time. Check out Episode 21 of Ready for Work on our podcast page.