Jackson County certified as a Work Ready Community

Business, education and community leaders celebrated a major workforce development milestone in Jackson County on Monday. The county has officially been certified as an ACT® Work Ready Community.

The national designation demonstrates the quality of the workforce in the community and uses real testing data to help close the skills gap and produce a workforce ready to meet the needs of current and future employers.

“This certification signals we as a community understand what skills employers are looking for, and we are working with our education, business and industry leaders, as well as workforce development partners to meet those needs,” said George Freeland, Executive Director of the Jackson County Economic Development Foundation.

“As we work with our partners to recruit new business and industry to South Mississippi, or encourage our current customers to expand, a skilled workforce is one of the first topics that is addressed,” Mississippi Power Economic Development Director Brian Useforge said. “This certification is another asset that we can use to promote the business environment in Jackson County and across South Mississippi.”

A certified Work Ready Community means the local county has job candidates in the pipeline with high-demand skills assessed and documented by the National Career Readiness Certificate. The assessment test measures a range of foundational workplace skills including critical thinking and problem solving, graphic literacy, understanding workplace documents and following workplace procedures.

“The Jackson County School District, along with the Pascagoula-Gautier, Moss Point and Ocean Springs districts, have really done a phenomenal job with their Career and Technical Education programs,” Senior Community Development Representative Ann Holland said. “When you combine those programs with all of the opportunities available at the Jackson County campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, it’s easy to see why this community is being recognized for its workforce development efforts.”

Jackson County is the second county in Mississippi Power’s service territory to receive certification as an ACT® Work Ready Community. Hancock County received the certification in February.

Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), produces safe, reliable and environmentally responsible energy for more than 188,000 customers in 23 southeast Mississippi counties. With nearly 160 megawatts of approved solar energy capacity, Mississippi Power is the largest partner in providing renewable energy in the state of Mississippi. Visit our website at mississippipower.com, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

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