Sevier County Achieves Certification as ACT® Work Ready Community

Sevier County today announced it has met all criteria to become a certified ACT Work Ready Community, demonstrating its commitment to developing a strong workforce pipeline, desirable to employers, economic developers and current and future citizens of the county. The ACT® Work Ready Communities (ACT® WRC) initiative empowers states, regions and counties with data, processes and tools that drive economic growth by identifying skills gaps and quantifying the skill level of their workforce. Participants leverage the ACT® WorkKeys® National Career Readiness Certificate® (ACT® WorkKeys® NCRC®) to measure and close skills gaps and build common frameworks that link, align and match their workforce development efforts.

To begin the certification process, Sevier County leaders attended the ACT Work Ready Communities Boot Camp, an executive leadership and training program designed and led by ACT to initiate, deploy, and drive carefully tailored efforts to improve the county’s work readiness. Leaders met with local employers, policymakers, educators and economic developers to establish goals and build a sustainable WRC model to fit community needs.

“I’ve had the honor to lead our team on this initiative and we have a great group from UA Cossatot, the De Queen/Mena Educational Cooperative, De Queen Public Schools, Horatio Public Schools, and several employers in Sevier County that recognize the NCRC credential. This has been a group effort and we’re so proud of our employers, educators, and workforce for adopting this method and for being the first in our region to complete the metrics required to be certified,” said Tiffany Maurer, Economic Development Director for Sevier County.

“Congratulations to Sevier for becoming an ACT Work Ready Community and joining a growing list of counties dedicated to building a robust workforce,” said ACT Regional Manager of Workforce Initiatives, Tony Garife. “The efforts of the county leadership to achieve WRC certification will provide the community with a tremendous economic development advantage and help it stand out for its workforce development efforts.”

For more information on this initiative, go to www.workreadycommunities.org and view all of ACT’s workforce solutions at www.act.org/workforce

For more information on becoming an employer recognizing the WorkKeys NCRC, contact Sevier County Economic Development Director, Tiffany Maurer, at tmaurer@cccua.edu or 870-584-1184.