State and local officials joined with local company officials and others Monday to celebrate Patrick County’s new designation as a certified Work Ready Community (WRC). The nationally recognized designation by the Commonwealth of Virginia and American College Testing (ACT) will help Patrick County attract new businesses and jobs in addition to strengthening the skill sets of the region’s high school students, job seekers and incumbent workforce.
“Well done. Very well done. You all need a pat on the back and I’m giving it to you,” Del. Charles Poindexter, R-Franklin County, said during the announcement at Ten Oaks, LLC.
To become certified, a locality must achieve benchmarks in three areas of performance: high school graduation rate, number of National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) credentials attained in the locality and number of employers recognizing the NCRC.
The WRC effort is a voluntary initiative guided by key community leaders – local elected officials, economic development teams, business leaders, chambers of commerce, educators and workforce development agencies.
Partners like the DRRC, the West Piedmont Workforce Development Board, Patrick Henry Community College, Patrick County Public Schools and regional employers supported Patrick County’s efforts to achieve the national certification, including Ten Oaks, Narrowflex, The Results Companies and Capewell Aerial Systems, LLC.
“This milestone achievement would not be possible without the dedication, support and partnership of our regional businesses and employers as well as workforce partners like the West Piedmont Workforce Development Board, Patrick Henry Community College and Patrick County Public Schools,” said Rebecca Adcock, executive director of the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce.
“Patrick County has been successful because local employers have shown their support by recognizing the NCRC as a good indicator of workforce skills,” Poindexter said. “Employers across the region are also having their jobs profiled so that they can match candidates, by skill level, to open positions.”
At the core of the ACT Work Ready Communities initiative is the ACT National Career Readiness Certificate™ (ACT NCRC®). Since January 2006, more than four million Americans have earned an ACT NCRC®. Since June 2013, more than 7,810 citizens in Southern Virginia have earned an NCRC, almost 40 percent of all NCRC recipients in the Commonwealth of Virginia (20,547 as of February 2019). This national, portable credential includes three essential workplace skill categories: applied math, workplace documents, and graphic literacy.
“Today’s achievement by Patrick County demonstrates to our existing companies, as well as prospective employers, that we have a trainable workforce with the foundational skills to compete,” Dr. Julie Brown, program director, Dan River Region Collaborative (DRCC), said. “We have a significant number of localities in Southern Virginia that are certified as Work Ready Communities with more announcements on the way. When we work together as a region, great things are possible.”
Four years ago, Site Selection Magazine added the number of National Career Readiness Certificates per 1,000 residents as one of five criteria used in its tabulations for its annual Workforce Development Rankings. This year, Virginia ranked as the top state in the Atlantic region, scoring ahead of highly competitive states such as Florida, North Carolina, Maryland and Delaware.
Companies are seeing the benefit of the Work Ready Community effort which provides a system to verify work readiness, matching the skill level of prospective workers to the skill set required for a specific job. Improved recruitment, reductions in new-hire turnover, and improvements in employee engagement are just a few of the positive outcomes more than 390 companies across Southern Virginia are experiencing.
In addition to serving existing companies, the Work Ready Community effort provides a third-party validated, data-driven system for economic developers to talk about the skill level of the region’s workforce. As the region considers further workforce investments and expanding the number of citizens with in-demand certifications, use of the National Career Readiness Certificate demonstrates that Patrick County has a qualified and trainable workforce.
In addition to Patrick County, Danville City, Henry County, Halifax County, Pittsylvania County and Martinsville City have been certified as Work Ready Communities. Other Virginia localities have launched their WRC initiatives and are on target to reach WRC status in the future.
