Americus Times-Recorder, Americus, Georgia

Keven Gilbert
The Americus Times-Recorder

9-20-2010

Gov. declares Sumter County Ga. Work Ready

AMERICUS — Governor Sonny Perdue announced Monday that Sumter County has been designated as a new Certified Work Ready Community of Excellence. Sumter County is one of 16 counties that received the designation as a Work Ready Community by meeting criteria based on improvement of public high school graduation rates and showing a specified percentage of the available and current workforce having obtained Work Ready Certificates. These counties represent the ninth group to complete their Work Ready Certificate goals and successfully meet at least the required minimum increase in their county’s public high school graduation rate.  

Sumter County reported 1,439 Work Ready Certificates earned and an increase in the public high school graduation rate from 67.6 percent to 74.3 percent. From an economic development standpoint, the Work Ready program goals are designed to help communities develop a more qualified workforce that will attract industry into the community.

“Georgians are taking charge of their futures and equipping themselves for success,” said the governor. “By building strong public-private partnerships, these communities are transforming their work forces and encouraging economic development.”

South Georgia Technical College’s (SGTC) Office of Economic Development worked with many local, state and county officials as well as other educational entities to help achieve the Certified Work Ready Community status.

“This is a real accomplishment. We’ve been working on it for some time,” Wally Summers, SGTC’s vice president of Economic Development Services, said Monday. “We have achieved a graduation rate that is tremendously improved. It’s something that businesses and industry looks at — it sets us apart for companies that might see this and agree to move to Sumter County. Summers says that those individuals taking the Work Ready assessment also benefit.

“People in Sumter County can use the certification on their personal profiles. More and more employers are requesting work ready certifications,” Summer said.

The other newly Certified Work Ready Communities of Excellence include Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Decatur, Jeff Davis, Lanier, Madison, McIntosh, Meriwether, Oglethorpe, Pickens, Washington, Wayne, Wheeler and Wilcox. Each county will receive a $10,000 grant and the local Work Ready Community teams will receive a two-year membership to their local chamber of commerce and a budget for additional Work Ready outreach materials.

 The Sumter County Georgia Work Ready tests are administered at the John M. Pope Industrial Technology Center on the SGTC campus. For more information www.gaworkready.org