Jenkins County High School seniors earning a gold certificate on the Georgia Work Ready test were, from left, first row: Mandy Underwood, Jenkins County Family Enrichment Center director; Aaron Tanner; Fetima Jordan; and Dag Gay; second row: Jared Hackworth; Daniel Johnson; Josh Sipes; Nicholas Williams; and John Perryman, Regional Certified Work Ready program. Not pictured is Kryslynn Royal (Photo contributed) It’s not the Olympics, and they are not athletes. They are, however, ‘gold’ recipients. Eight Jenkins County High School seniors recently scored at the ‘gold’ level on the Georgia Work Ready certification test. They were Aaron Tanner, Fetima Jordan, Dag Gay, Jared Hackworth, Daniel Johnson, Josh Sipes, Nicholas Williams and Kryslynn Royal.

The Georgia Work Ready program was launched in 2006 by Governor Sonny Perdue and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce to improve the job training and marketability of Georgia’s workforce. Jenkins County earned the certified Work Ready Community status in June 2009.

To earn the Certified Work Ready Community designation, counties must demonstrate a commitment to improving pub- lic high school graduation rates through a significant increase and must show that a specified percentage of the available and current workforce have obtained Work Ready Certificates. Jenkins County achieved 277 Work Ready Certificates, which was 67 percent above the goal, and increased the public high school graduation rate from 63.6 percent to 72.3 percent.

Once counties attain their Certified Work Ready Community goals, they are able to maintain their status by ensuring a small percent of their available workforce continue to earn Work Ready Certificates, encourage local businesses to recognize and use Work Ready and continue to

increase the public high school graduation rate until a threshold of 75 percent is reached. Once they reach 75 percent, they must maintain that graduation rate to maintain their certification status.

Georgia’s Work Ready initiative is based on a skills assessment and certification for job seekers and a job profiling system for businesses. By identifying both the needs of business and the available skills of Georgia’s workforce, the state can more effectively generate the right talent for the right jobs. The Certified Work Ready Community initiative builds on the assessments and job profiling system to create opportunities for greater economic development.

Information posted on the Georgia Work Ready website notes that 139 counties in Georgia are participating in the program and 27 counties have been certified. As of December 2009, more than 79,000 Georgians have earned a Work Ready certificate and 433 Georgia businesses are using job profiles.