Webster County Work Ready holds kickoff event

(from The Journal-Enterprise August 27, 2014)

by MATT HUGHES

J-E News Editor

Webster County’s Work Ready Committee held their official kick off Friday night at the Annex in Dixon. The committee has been working for nearly two years with the goal of having Webster County named ‘Work Ready’ by the state committee.

Kentucky Work Ready Executive Director Robert Curry spoke to local supporters on Friday.

“Congratulations on getting your Work Ready Community in Progress certification,” he said. “You are one of only 38 counties in the state that has been certified Work Ready or Work Ready in Progress.”

Curry, whose background is in workforce development, said that the work ready initiative is a very important one for communities that are looking to grow.

“Many times when companies are looking to expand, they go through a site selection contractor,” he explained. “In a 2012 survey of those contractors, they found that the single most important criteria for a potential site was the quality of the workforce.”

Communities must meet certain criteria to achieve the Work Ready or Work Ready in Progress designation. By meeting those criteria counties have taken a big step towards showing site selection contractors the quality of their workforce.

County Receives Work Ready in Progress Designation

Article and photo from Sebree Banner (10-16-13)

Following months of work and a video conference last Wednesday with the Kentucky Department of Work Force Development, Webster County has earned the Work Ready Community in Progress designation.

Several months ago, educators, business owners and elected officials began working on the Work Ready initiative.  The program is a move at the state level to build education and help communities become more economically pleasing for business and industry.  Counties must meet a number of goals and make a number of improvements to skills possessed by local individuals.  Community commitment, internet availability, soft skills, educational attainment, graduation rate and NCRC all play a role in a community’s work ready standing.

Wednesday’s video conference included a video presentation about the county’s agriculture industry, business and industry, transportation, commercial and financial offerings and government and education.  Several member of the local Work Ready group attended the conference and made presentations to the Work Force Cabinet members.  Heather Roy, Tim Roy, Judge Executive Jim Townsend, Vernon Westerman, Larry Garriety, Dr. Judy Rhodes, MCC, Dr. Kris Williams, HCC, Tonya Logsdon, GRADD, Betsy Wells-Jones, NWKF, Steve Whitsell, Matt Hughes and Regina Catlett were present for the conference.  /the video conference gave committee members the opportunity to defend the information submitted in their Work Ready application, but for several months committees have been meeting and putting together statistics, seeking letters of support from various agencies and addressing other parts of the Work Ready process.

On Wednesday following the presentation of the video about Webster County, Tim Roy presented a list of initiative supporters reviewed the local high school graduation rate numbers.  Dr. Rhodes told the cabinet members that Webster County will meet its NCRC goal of nine percent growth over the next three years.  She provided additional information about the NCRC program and how goal attainment is being addressed locally.

Heather Roy reported on the local Take 5 campaign which will include committee members seeking out employers who will encourage their employees to attain GEDs as well as associate and bachelor degrees.  

Tim Roy told the cabinet that the high school has implemented a seven week soft skills program and will host a soft skills boot camp that “will beef up” these skills and help get students ‘work ready’.  He added that the soft skills are being addressed at both the school and community level.

Townsend noted that 91.4 percent of the county has broadband access, part of the Work Ready requirements.  he added that two areas of the county need better access and there are plans for the installation of two additional towers in those areas within the next two years.  “We are focused on providing (internet) access to our students out in the county,” Townsend said.

Hughes addressed community commitment noting that the committee is working on a website and is creating a media campaign to engage the entire county.

Following a brief discussion by members of the Work Force Cabinet, the group voted to designate Webster County as Work Ready In-Progress.  On November 21, members of the committee will attend a Kentucky Work Force Development meeting in Frankfort where the county will be recognized for this achievement.

Work Ready designation a slow but vital process

from The Journal-Enterprise (Wednesday, 24 April 2013)

by MATT HUGHES

J-E News Editor

As Webster County and Northwest Kentucky Forward (NWKF) slowly advance in the process of making Webster County a Work Ready Community “In Progress”, one of the first steps is educating the residents. 

By now most people have heard the phrase “work ready community” throw around, but what is a work ready community?

“It means the county’s work force has attained a level of education and skills that make it attractive to current and future employers by having enough workers to meet their needs.” said Mickey Dunbar, chairman of the Webster County Work Ready Community’s Community Involvement Committee. “The designation itself is given out by the Kentucky Workforce Investment Board.”

To be designated work ready, the county needs to meet certain criteria. The most important are graduation rate, National Carrer Readiness Certification (NCRC), community involvment, college education level and soft skills development.

“The county must maintain a high school graduaton rate of 82.32 percent,” Dunbar said. “Currently we are at 89 percent.”

In the first three years the county must get nine percent of its working age population (age 18-64) to take the NCRC.

The NCRC is a portable credential that demonstrates achievement and estimates a level of workplace employability skills in Applied Mathematics, and Locating Information, and Reading for Information. It is administered by ACT through it’s WorkKeys Program, which is already required by many businesses as a part of the pre-employment screening process.

Even Armstrong Coal Company has used a personalized form of the WorkKeys.

“We also need to have 25 percent of that working age population to hold a two year degree, and present a plan to raise that number to 32 percent within three years,” Dunbar explained.

The soft skills area is made up of skills such as work ethic, attitude, time managment and others which are highly sought after skills by employers. 

“This is not a one shot deal,” Dunbar said. “It will continue to go on, but it is vital for our county to pursue this.”

Officials with Webster County Work Ready and NWKF are working to spread the word and develop new oppertunities for Webster County residents. This year NCRC testing will be given out to all seniors at Webster County High School. Testing is already available through Madisonville Comunity and Technical College.

Currently there are five certified Work Ready Communities in Kentucky, and eight Work Ready Communities “In Progress.” 

Henderson County to our north has achieved Work Ready status, withneighboring Union and Hopkins Counties already being designated “In Progress.”

The next Work Ready meeting for Webster County is June 4, 2013.

WORK READY

Kentucky has the most rigorous certification program in the nation to allow communities to demonstrate their workforce quality. This is an opportunity to differentiate our county and help Kentucky compete to attract jobs now and in the future. The criteria include high school graduation rates, National Career Readiness Certificate holders, community commitment, educational attainment, soft skills development and Internet availability.