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This bonus episode of Ready for Work includes information on the 2019 ACT Workforce Summit in Charlotte, NC, October 28-30. We chat with some of the presenters to give a sneak peek at the conference content. This episode wraps up with feedback from attendees of last year's summit. Visit act.org/workforcesummit for agenda and event info.

Work-based or “on-the-job” learning through apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs benefits learners from all education and socioeconomic levels and put them on a fast track to high-wage, nationally portable careers. In this episode of “Ready for Work," we talk to leaders in postsecondary education and business about the use of work-based learning programs at the community level and the personal and economic results that can be gained from creating such programs.

Tennessee's Board of Regents and the National Rural Education Association partnered to secure a new grant to build skills and credentials in the Work Ready Communities participating counties of Chester, Decatur, Henderson and Perry. Important components of the grant project are increasing technical career awareness among K-12 students and increasing dual enrollment opportunities that allow high school students to take classes to earn college credit and technical career certifications at the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCATs) serving the area. Resources will be allocated for dual-enrolled students to earn certifications that pave the way for careers in their fields, including the National Career Readiness Certification.

Work Ready Communities from ACT help regions align their resources and leadership for a competitive workforce that meets employer needs and generates regional prosperity. Today on Ready for Work, we’re covering the journey to become a Work Ready Community.

In this episode, you’ll hear from the voices of local and state leaders on behalf of Work Ready Communities, including Angie White of Louisiana, Gov. Asa Hutchison of Arkansas, Will Coppage from Mississippi, and Nate Kubicek of Crossland Construction in Kansas.

You’ll also hear from ACT’s Work Ready team on how to build and train the leaders to execute strategies, how goals are set for certification, how ACT helps regions engage their employers for success, data and information leveraging, recertification, alumni resources, and more.

Also in this episode:

• The ingredients that make a Work Ready Community successful
• How high-quality workforce initiatives help employers meet skill demands
• How to engage counties and employers in these initiatives
• How good data leads to workforce goal attainment
• How Work Ready Community alumni power the group as a whole
• Why more than 80% of Work Ready Communities improve business retention and expansion, even among startups

More than 30 Oswego County high schoolers proved they already have the skills to join the workforce when they recently earned a national work-readiness credential. A total of 34 students in the Oswego County Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) received their ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) in a ceremony at Onondaga Community College after completing assessments determining their skills with workplace documents, applied math and graphic literacy. The ACT WorkKeys initiative, which is partially funded by the Richard S. Shineman Foundation and Operation Oswego County, is offered at no cost to students or their families.

P-TECH students simultaneously earn their Regents Diploma and an Associate in Applied Science Degree in either Electrical Engineering Technology or Mechanical Technology, and also gain industry experience.  The students are the first from the Oswego County P-TECH program to receive the NCRC credential.

Graduation rates and accountability scores are the highest ever for the Alamance-Burlington school district in North Carolina. The Accountability Model provides results for student performance on End-of- Grade (EOG) and End-of-Course (EOC) tests along with English Learner Progress ad on three additional measures at the high school level: combined ACT test results and WorkKeys test results; Graduation Rate; and Math Course Rigor.

PCEDC held first Kansas Boot Camp at KSU Aug 6-7 2019.

The Inspire Center, the city of Oswego’s latest workforce development program, will open its doors today to residents looking to find employment that suits their needs and skill sets. The new initiative will operate out of the city’s Section Eight Rental Assistance Office and will provide residents with access to computers and guidance toward education opportunities, according to County Legislator Nathan Emmons, R-Oswego, who will oversee the program. The Work Ready endeavor in Oswego aims to graduate students with an ACT National Career Readiness Certificate, which according to officials earns them a national credential announcing them as a skilled member of the workforce.