Three Arkansas counties announced Monday that they are now participants in an initiative to demonstrate workforce readiness to current and future companies.
Arkansas, Grant and Jefferson counties joined Mississippi County as the only ACT Work Ready Communities in the state.
The designation, offered by college and career readiness nonprofit organization ACT Inc., allows employers to quantify the workforce skills offered by potential employees in a county.
Under the program, people hoping to enter the workforce can take an exam and obtain a National Career Readiness Certificate, which ACT describes as "a portable, industry-recognized credential that clearly identifies an individual's" workforce skills.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson heralded the announcement as an economic development tool.
"We have to demonstrate to those [companies] we're trying to recruit in a more quantifiable way our workforce," Hutchinson said. "This is part of that."
The certificates are offered through high schools, colleges and workforce centers, said Lou Ann Nisbett, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Alliance of Jefferson County.
The first exam is free, and studying material can be accessed online at no charge, she said.
In Arkansas, 19 other counties participate in the program but haven't yet completed all the steps to attain ACT certification.
Metro on 04/10/2018