Workforce Development announces seven Work Ready Communities

The Governor’s Office of Workforce Development today announced 7 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 to create ongoing success.

   “The Governor’s Office of Workforce Development congratulates these seven counties on becoming Certified Work Ready,” said executive director, Tricia Pridemore.   “We are confident that the positive changes made to Georgia Work Ready will prove successful in increasing Georgia’s graduation numbers while also creating better synergy between business and local school systems”

The Certified Work Ready Communities program recently underwent several large-scale changes to more effectively address the needs of Georgia’s workforce.  To become a Certified Work Ready Community the following goals must be met: improve high school graduation rate, improve high school attendance rate and improve post-secondary enrollment rate.

The new certified communities are as follows:

Butts County:   improved high school graduation rate by nearly 7%; improved attendance rate by 4% over a 4 year period.

Clarke County: improved high school graduation rate by nearly 6%; improved attendance rate by 2% over a 4 year period.

Cobb County: maintained a high school graduation rate above 80%; maintained an attendance rate above the state average over a 4 year period.

Dawson County: improved high school graduation rate by 14%; improved attendance rate by nearly 2% over a 4 year period.

Forsyth County:   increased high school graduation rate by 10%; improved attendance rate by nearly 2% over a 4 year period.

Peach County: improved high school graduation rate by nearly 20%; maintained attendance rate higher than state average over a 4 year period.

Union County: improved high school graduation by nearly 6%; improved attendance rate by 2% over a 4 year period.

All seven counties also made significant headway in improving post-secondary enrollment for their areas. To continue their work, each county will have the opportunity to apply for a $7,000 innovation grant targeting at-risk and out of school youth.