Last week their hard work paid off when Gordon County was named among 30 counties that will receive $12,000 in grant money to put toward work force training.
“We are extremely excited to have received notification of our grant award to assist us in accelerating our efforts in becoming a Certified Work Ready Community,” said Amy Johnson-Parker, team leader for the Work Ready initiative and Director of Career, Technical and Agriculture Education for the Gordon County Schools.
The Certified Work Ready program is financed through state and federal grant funding set aside to improve the state vocational standing.
The program provides Georgia citizens with free educational assessments and measure a person’s skill and educational levels as well as their ability to learn or progress over time.
Also, the program helps potential employees learn new skills that will benefit them through free online training programs. And more recently, Gap Education, testing and online courses that improve education levels have been added to the Certified Work Ready curriculum.
“While several entities have already joined our efforts, these funds will allow us to assist other businesses and individuals in Gordon County in completing the certification process,” said Johnson-Parker.
Along with Gordon County, Georgia’s newest counties to begin working toward Work Ready certification include: Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Burke, Calhoun, Chatham, Clay, Clayton, Coffee, Columbia, Dade, Echols, Fulton, Glascock, Glynn, Hancock, Haralson, Heard, Irwin, Lanier, McIntosh, Newton, Quitman, Richmond, Spalding, Taliaferro, Washington, Whitfield and Wilcox counties.
Gov. Sonny Perdue said these counties showed sings of working to improve core job skills.
“Becoming a Certified Work Ready Community is proof that a county is serious about developing a capable work force and helps position Georgia for growth and innovation,” Perdue said
More than 100 counties have already become Work Ready, and according to the Certified Work Ready Web site, those counties have seen an improvement in graduation rates, school tests scores, and college admission rates.
For more information on the Georgia Work Ready program visit http://www.gaworkready.org.
in an area that can't get any new industry because of the INEPTITUDE OF THE LOCAL CITY AND COUNTY GOVERNMENTS. UNTIL THE SPECIAL INTERESTS of the six or seven families and their descendents that run Calhoun/Gordon county ARE NO LONGER PROTECTED, there will be no job opportunities in this area. Get a grip! Even those people, outside of these 6 or 7 families, whom have lived here for many years are now trying to sell their homes so they can leave Calhoun/Gordon County - and with good cause! IN SHORT, GORDON COUNTY HAS NO FUTURE, AND IT HAS NO-ONE TO THANK BUT ITSELF! "Recognizing BS," along with others, truly recognizes "Stop, Shop,Gordon County" as just what it truly is - BS! Calhoun/Gordon County should be recognized for what it really is - Five Exits to Nowhere!