IOWA CITY, Iowa—Participating in the ACT Work Ready Communities (WRC) initiative helps county and state leaders build and strengthen workforce development efforts, while that participation is growing nationwide. These findings were included in a report released today at the third annual ACT Work Ready Communities Best Practices Symposium.
The report, ACT Work Ready Communities: A Summary of the 2014 Survey Results, examines how worthwhile employers, educators, workforce professionals and economic development leaders find their efforts, as partners in the WRC, in achieving their goals of linking education and workforce development, aligning to economic development and matching people to jobs.
The ACT WRC initiative launched three years ago to help workforce developers, economic developers, educators, and business leaders coordinate their efforts to help individuals find and succeed in jobs. Today’s ACT symposium included a panel discussion, led by National Workforce Solutions Advisory Board members, on the findings and recommendations outlined in the report.
The majority of county leaders—71 percent—reported that participating in the ACT WRC initiative has helped their counties form a cohesive workforce development strategy, and 73 percent also said that participation in the initiative is improving their community workforce development partnerships. The survey also showed that 80 percent of engaged counties are using WRC data to improve local workforce development efforts. Among businesses, 82 percent reported that their companies are “very likely” or “moderately likely” to support WRC initiatives in their communities.
“This report gives us important insight into what’s working and what needs to be improved to ensure that communities thrive and grow economically,” said Wayne Camara, senior vice president of research at ACT. “By surveying the people who both lead and benefit from ACT Work Ready Communities, we get a sense of how all the crucial players are faring in these efforts and the results they are achieving.”
These issues are also the focus of the two-day summit beginning today in Charleston, S.C., which has attracted more than 160 attendees from 28 states to discuss and share best practices in ongoing economic development tactics to align jobs with regional economic needs.
Both the survey and the summit are part of ACT’s longstanding commitment and efforts to help build sustainable and impactful partnerships that improve the economic well-being of communities across the country. More than 250 counties nationwide are engaged, and 67 counties are certified ACT Work Ready Communities.
At this week’s summit, engaged public and private sector leaders from across the country will share their best practices for building successful ACT Work Ready Community initiatives from the perspective of employers, economic developers and county organizations.
“Creating a sustainable, collaborative workforce development approach is hard work, especially because workforce development efforts are typically fragmented across multiple agencies,” said Sonny Perdue, former two-term Georgia governor and opening keynote speaker. “Many stakeholders have their own funding streams, often tied to unique and disconnected performance outcomes, which is why it’s important to examine and learn from regions that are successful in this realm.”
To evolve and prosper in a rapidly changing economy, counties and states are vying to attract employers and jobs to boost their economy. Speakers from the Business Roundtable and The Manufacturing Institute, along with closing remarks from Delta Regional Authority Chairman Chris Masingill, will provide insight and direction on how communities can align their WRC efforts with their common goal of producing a more skilled and aligned workforce.