Mitchell County Celebrates "Work Ready" Certification                                                                          

Pictured left to right are: SWGTC President Dr. Glenn Deibert, SWGTC Vice President for Economic Development Gary Pitts, Marilyn Royal, and Georgia Work Ready’s Fred McConnell.

Governor Sonny Perdue announced back in January that Mitchell County has been named a “Certified Work Ready Community”, a designation showing the county has the skilled workforce that business demands and the educational infrastructure to drive economic growth and prosperity.

Mitchell County is number 25 out of 141 counties participating in the Governor’s initiative to have earned this distinction. The county has received a $10,000 grant to continue its economic development efforts and to improve high school graduation rates.

A ceremony to officially proclaim Mitchell County as “Certified Work Ready” was held in Camilla February 11 with local officials, representatives from Southwest Georgia Technical College (SWGTC), Georgia State government, and special guests from local business and industry on hand for the event.

Marilyn Royal addressed the gathering, and thanked everyone involved in Mitchell County’s effort to earn the certification. “This was truly a team effort,” she said. “We have so many people to thank, including Dr. Glenn Deibert and Gary Pitts of SWGTC.”

“We appreciate that so many people in our county saw the value in the assessment testing and realized what earning this certification would mean to our community,” Royal said.  

Fred McConnell, who heads up the Work Ready program in Atlanta, was guest speaker at the event. He said, “This program is a priority of the Governor’s and we are very pleased with the success of the initiative so far. We have 141 of our  159 counties in Georgia participating and that means a great deal to the state of Georgia.”

“Thirty five states have programs similar to Georgia’s Work Ready certificates,” McConnell said. “There are 400,000 workers with certificates through these programs, and it is remarkable that 114,000 of those are Georgians who have earned their individual Work Ready certificates through Governor Perdue’s program. Georgia leads the country in developing its work force and it is anticipated that this state wide achievement will attract new business and industry.”

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 prosperity.

 “This Work Ready designation helps Mitchell County to shine and is a great distinction for them,” said Gary Pitts, Vice President for Economic Development at SWGTC.

“Earning the certification of being ‘Work Ready’ will place them in a strong position for economic growth by building the skilled workforce that employers need,” said Pitts. “This program is helping them build a pathway for life-long learning that empowers both citizens and companies to succeed.”

More information on the Georgia Work Ready program or the assessment tests may be obtained by calling Southwest Georgia Technical College at 229-227-2579.