202 Stephens County High School seniors recently took the Work Ready Assessment on Wednesday, October 12th. Over readiness to potential employers. Three seniors, Houston Spencer, Jacob Bailey, and Jacob Lewis received a Platinum certificate. Platinum is the highest level awarded in Georgia and is a signal to employers that the individual is ready for 90 percent of jobs in the state.
Melvin Everson, the Executive Director of the Governor's Office of Workforce Development, spoke to officials from Stephens, Franklin, Hart, Banks, White, and Habersham Counties at North Georgia Technical College's Currahee Campus. Everson emphasized the benefits of the Work Ready program and talked about the new emphasis on "Soft Skills" that is forthcoming. He also said that Georgia must continue to develop its workforce.
A grant from the state will assist Stephens County and three neighboring counties in northeast Georgia with work force development.
Stephens County Development Authority Executive Director Tim Martin said last week that state officials had informed him that a $350,000 work force development grant was awarded in response to a joint application submitted by Stephens, Franklin, Habersham and Hart counties.
The grant, Martin said, is designed to help communities prepare people to work in the manufacturing sector.
Martin said that would happen in several ways.
“It will identify needs, and it will identify solutions,” he said. “Today’s work force is rapidly evolving. There are techniques, skills and training that all need to take place to stay current, and this will allow us to follow up on those highest priorities and make them happen.”
The program will combine the efforts of cities, counties, public school systems and industries in the four counties.
Martin called it a great opportunity for the region.
“We are quite excited about the confidence both Gov. Perdue and Governor-elect Deal have placed in us,” he added. “We are excited that we can work with our existing industries, our local school systems, and colleges to make sure our work force is what it needs to be to make our community successful.”
The counties have 18 months to use the grant.
Anderson Independent
Stephens County has joined with three neighboring counties to apply for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of grant money designed for workforce development. Along with community partners in Habersham, Franklin, and Hart counties, the Stephens County Development Authority applied for a total of $358,000 in grant funds.
Governor Sonny Perdue recently signed House Bill 1195, which ensures the Georgia Work Ready program's continuance after his final term. "Work Ready is transforming our state’s workforce and closing the skills gap for many Georgia workers. Most importantly, almost 6,000 Georgians have found a job using their Work Ready Certificate since March 2009," said Perdue. Read full article...
45 of 159 counties are in Georgia are now Work Ready certified. Stephens County was one of the first 22 counties to gain certification and is now in the process of re-certification. The County was the recipient of a grant to aid the re-certification process and promote the program within the community. The grant money has so far been used to support the high school mentoring program and to support the Stephens County High School senior class' taking of the work ready exam this past winter.
The re-certification process requires a continued increase in the numbers of Work Ready certified residents in Toccoa and Stephens County. A specified number of businesses in the area must also 'sign on' to recognize the program as part of their hiring process. 1,352 residents in Stephens County are now Work Ready certified. Click here to read more about Work Ready in Stephens County...
On Monday, November 2, Governor Sonny Perdue proclaimed Stephens County a “Work Ready Certified Community” at the Work Ready Awards Luncheon in Atlanta, giving community leaders a framed certificate listing the County’s achievements. This announcement is the culmination of a process that began in early 2007. The effort to gain certification was led by Gordon Broome, Work Ready Community Team Leader, in coordination with the North Georgia Technical College, the school system, the Stephens County Development Authority, and other community organizations.
The Georgia Work Ready program is a voluntary initiative which enables communities to demonstrate that they have the talented workforce needed to fill current and future jobs. The certification also shows a community’s commitment to education and to improving high school graduation rates, important factors for driving businesses to an area. To become certified, specified numbers of community residents had to pass the Work Ready Assessment in six different categories: Technical college graduates, GED holders, unemployed adults, high school graduates entering the workforce, current high school seniors, and college graduates or recent attendees. The County’s target of 418 certifications within 36 months was completed in 26 months with 833 Work Certified residents.
Another requirement related to improving the High School graduation rate. Over the last two years, the school system has improved that rate by 15.5 points; from 63.1% to 78.6%. This achievement is well above the basic requirement of 2 points per year.
What is also significant about Stephens County’s achievement is the percentage of assessed individuals who scored at the “Gold” level and are thereby considered able to perform 90% of the jobs in Georgia. 29% of Stephens County’s certified individuals scored at the “Gold” level versus only 20% statewide, proving the local workforce to be well above average. The Work Ready Assessment includes four passing categories – Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.
The County’s certification process continues. Over the next two years, the Community Team must sustain its efforts to increase the numbers of businesses requiring workers to gain certification, assess more individuals, improve scores of non-passers, and maintain a high school graduation rate above 75%.
22 out of 159 counties in Georgia are currently Work Ready Certified Communities. Stephens, Franklin, and Hart are the only three contiguous counties in the state to reach this designation.
“Our work force is our most important economic development tool,” says Cam Parker, Stephens County Development Authority Chairman. “We literally market ourselves to prospective businesses, and this designation proves what we already knew: our work force is second to none.”
“What we’ve demonstrated in the last 26-month period is that above average skills exist in Stephens County,” states Gordon Broome, Stephens County Work Ready Community Team Leader. “We are going to continue to actively promote this asset and increase it by using job gap training and other opportunities of the Work Ready program.”
The final graduation rate for Stephens County increased yet again this year by more than six points, from 72.3% to 78.6%. This is barely under the Georgia average of 78.9% and meets the required improvement for the Georgia Work Ready Certified Community program.
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