Governor Perdue Announces Five New Certified Work Ready Communities

Friday, May 14, 2010

Contact: Office of Communications 404-651-7774

ATLANTA – Governor Sonny Perdue today announced five new Certified Work Ready Communities, a designation communicating a county has the skilled workforce needed to meet business demands and drive economic growth, as well as the educational foundation to build a pipeline of workers ready to create ongoing success.

“By earning Work Ready Certificates and building a culture of lifelong learning, these communities gain a valuable competitive advantage,” said Governor Perdue. “These counties have developed the tools necessary to attract new industry and jobs, give their citizens confidence and boost opportunity.”

The five new Certified Work Ready Communities of Excellence are Polk, Screven, Telfair, Turner and Wilkes. These counties represent the seventh group to complete their Work Ready Certificate goals and successfully meet at least the required minimum increase in their county’s public high school graduation rate.

 

The new Certified Work Ready Communities of Excellence achieved the following:

• Polk County: 1,891 Work Ready Certificates earned (251 percent more than goal); increased public high school graduation rate from 64 to 74.9 percent
• Screven County: 359 Work Ready Certificates earned (74 percent more than goal); increased public high school graduation rate from 72.2 to 78.6 percent
• Telfair County: 516 Work Ready Certificates earned (98 percent more than goal); increased public high school graduation rate from 73.8 to 78.5 percent
• Turner County: 335 Work Ready Certificates earned (60 percent more than goal); increased public high school graduation rate from 62.8 to 72.3 percent
• Wilkes County: 645 Work Ready Certificates earned (205 percent more than goal); increased public high school graduation rate from 79.8 to 88.7 percent

 

To earn the Certified Work Ready Community designation, counties must demonstrate a commitment to improving public high school graduation rates through a measurable increase, and show a specified percentage of the available and current workforce have obtained Work Ready Certificates.

 

Each community created a team of economic development, government and education partners to meet the certification criteria. Counties are given three years to reach the goals necessary to earn the designation.

 

Additionally, Wilkinson and Lanier Counties have reached their Work Ready Certification goals by earning 374 and 124 Work Ready Certificates, respectively, and are now focusing on attaining their public high school graduation rate increase goals to become Certified Work Ready Communities.

 

Once counties attain their Certified Work Ready Community goals, they are able to maintain their status by ensuring a small percentage of their available workforce continue to earn Work Ready Certificates, engage local businesses to recognize and use Work Ready, and continue to increase their public high school graduation rate until they reach a threshold of 75 percent.

 

To continue their work, each county will receive a $10,000 grant. Their Work Ready Community teams will also receive a two-year membership to their local chamber of commerce and a budget for additional Work Ready outreach materials. Counties that are fully certified receive road signs and a seal denoting the year they achieved certification.

 

Georgia’s Work Ready initiative is based on a skills assessment and certification for job seekers and a job profiling system for businesses. By identifying both the needs of business and the available skills of Georgia’s workforce, the state can more effectively generate the right talent for the right jobs. The Certified Work Ready Community initiative builds on the assessments and job profiling system to create opportunities for greater economic development.

 

For more information on the Work Ready initiative please visit the Web site at www.gaworkready.org

 

 

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