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Work Ready program gears up
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The first Bryan County Work Ready Community Team meeting was held Tuesday morning in the media center of Bryan County High School.

Launched in August 2006 by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, "the purpose of the Georgia Work Ready initiative is to improve the job training and marketability of Georgia’s workforce and drive future economic growth for the state," according to Bryan County Assistant Superintendent of Schools Bradley Anderson.

Anderson said the meeting was an effort to become more familiar with the Work Ready initiative and develop an action plan for achieving goals as a Work Ready Community.

Bryan County was designated an Accelerated Certified Work Ready Community by Perdue and granted $12,000 through the Development Authority of Bryan County to jump start the initiative.

Described as a "partnership" among education, city, business, workforce and economic development by Tom Hines, executive director of training operations at Savannah Technical College, the program is designed "to measure the skills employers believe are critical for today’s jobs, as well as mastering the innovative technologies tomorrow’s jobs will require," he said.

"It’s not a substitute to higher education," said Ken Boyd, vice president of economic development with Savannah Tech, "it’s a supplement that gives workers the ability to demonstrate specific skills needed to move ahead in today’s job market, and is aimed at individuals who would like to improve their job skills in order to advance in today’s market place."

In addition to measuring core skills in applied mathematics, reading for information and locating information, the assessment also provides "skills gap training" at no additional cost to those who do not achieve the level they desire on the assessment.

Gap training is online and self-taught where the individual need train only in the areas needing improvement.

Certificate levels fall into the categories of bronze, silver, gold and platinum and define the level scored by the individual in each of the three core areas measured, giving a potential employee and employer an accurate indication of the applicant’s abilities.

The group will meet again Oct. 28 at 9:30 a.m. at the BoE office on Hwy. 280 in Pembroke.

To learn more about the Georgia Work Ready initiative, visit www.gaworkready.org.

 

 

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