ACT Work Ready Communities: A Summary of the 2014 Survey Results

© 2015 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved. ACT NCRC® and ACT WorkKeys® are registered trademarks of ACT, Inc. ACT Work Ready CommunitiesRe s eaR c h Re p o Rt© 2015 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved. ACT NCRC® and ACT WorkKeys® are registered trademarks of ACT, Inc. 4601Re s eaRc h Re p oRtACT Work Ready CommunitiesACT Work Ready Communities: A Summary of the 2014 Survey ResultsThe mission of ACT is to help people achieve education and workplace success. At a time when the nation’s economy is quickly changing and the skill needs of employers are constantly shifting, it is critical that we build successful collaborative efforts among businesses, workers, policymakers, educators, and economic developers. These efforts must be based on meaningful data that link education and workforce development, align to economic development and the needs of employers, and match individuals’ skill sets with jobs to sustain and grow the workforce.ACT is committed to helping people succeed in the current and future workforce. To that end, the ACT Work Ready Communities (ACT WRC) initiative aims to provide a stronger bond between states or counties and their respective workforce development partners. The ACT WRC initiative enables communities to leverage a proven framework to build a sustainable community approach that unites county leaders around common and meaningful goals that result in positive change for all stakeholders.The ACT WRC initiative began in 2012 and, as of July 2015, 60 communities in 24 states had achieved certified ACT Work Ready Community status (see map for the states in which these communities are located).Achieving certified ACT WRC status means that the community has a robust, connected workforce development program in place. Certification of a participating ACT WRC is based on:• the number of individuals in its emerging, transitioning, and current workforces who have earned an ACT National Career Readiness Certificate™ (ACT NCRC®), a portable credential that uses performance on selected ACT WorkKeys® assessments to demonstrate achievement and a certain level of workplace employability skills; and• the number of its employers recognizing or recommending the ACT NCRC in support of the community becoming a certified ACT WRC.These numbers are established by goals developed from the ACT WRC common criteria (http://workreadycommunities.org/resources/Criteria_for_Certification.pdf).States (in dark blue) with state- or county-led ACT Work Ready Communities as of July 2015:AlabamaArkansasCaliforniaGeorgiaIllinoisIndianaKansasLouisianaMichiganMississippiMissouriNew MexicoNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexasUtahVirginiaWashingtonWyomingACT National Career Readiness Certificate™ is a trademark of ACT, Inc. ACT Work Ready Communities: A Summary of the 2014 Survey Results2ACT Work Ready Communities: A Summary of the 2014 Survey ResultsUsers comment on the value of the ACT NCRC and ACT WorkKeys:The ACT NCRC gave me a lot of confidence because it went back and showed me that a lot of the skill set that I had, I didn’t know I had. It came out through the ACT NCRC. It gave me confidence because it reinforced some of the things that I knew and it helped point out areas I was weak in that I needed to grow in for future job opportunities.Skip Palma, Veterans Employment Specialist, Community Solutions of Clackamas County, Oregon City, Oregon• • • Jay Dunwell, chair of the Michigan [ACT] Work Ready Communities Initiative and president of Wolverine Coil Spring of Grand Rapids, said using ACT WorkKeys has helped his company identify high-potential employees like Diego Arvico.Arvico was packing boxes at Wolverine when company officials noticed his high test scores put him in the “gold category.” Company officials have since trained him to operate a coiling machine and as a CNC setup technician.Jim Harger, Grand Rapids Press (Michigan)• • • One of the chief challenges is to bring on the right talent, because you don’t have a lot of budget for making mistakes. And [the ACT NCRC] program allows you to assess people ahead of time, before they come in the door.Wayne Skipper, President, Concentric Sky, Eugene, OregonOnce certified, a community may continue to maintain its certification and add new objectives, such as closing skills gaps by helping individuals improve their work readiness skills, conducting job analyses to help companies better leverage the ACT NCRC in hiring and promotion, and integrating the ACT NCRC as the foundational level in the model of stackable credentials established by the US Department of Labor to help ensure that local targets are aligned with the skills needed in high-demand careers.1The Need for ACT WRCsCommunities that are motivated to ensure that education and training match the needs of employers, lead to jobs, and help individuals advance in their careers are supported by the ACT WRC framework. As highlighted in ACT’s Policy Platform: Workforce Develo