Missouri Workplace Readiness Initiative to Join Forces with ACT, Inc.

The Department of Economic Development announced today that Missouri is joining 11 other states to offer a basic workplace readiness credential in partnership with ACT, Inc. The announcement is in conjunction with ACT who made public its plans today for a National Career Readiness System to include several new products designed to help states increase the foundational skills of its workforce.

The Missouri Career Readiness Certificate (MoCRC), an ACT affiliate product, utilizes a combination of job analysis, assessment and training to ensure that Missouri workers have real workplace skills and are able to compete in today’s rapidly changing labor market.

"This gives us another great tool to market Missouri’s workforce to businesses and we are pleased to join ACT in this effort,” said Greg Steinhoff, Missouri Department of Economic Development Director. “We know that effectively addressing real workplace skills will lead to reduced turnover, overtime, and waste for businesses who are making employee selection and training decisions every day and MoCRC is huge step forward in this direction.”

MoCRC is a certificate based on ACT’s WorkKeys assessments used to identify a person's skill levels in three specific areas: Reading for Information, Locating Information and Applied Mathematics. These three areas have been profiled against thousands of available jobs and are consistently identified by employers nationwide as being essential for prospective and incumbent employees both for being hired and for advancement. There are three levels for the MoCRC: Gold, Silver and Bronze, and they are issued based upon the scores of the three assessments mentioned above. Employers may use any of the 432 occupational profiles developed from job profiles found in the tables on ACT’s website: www.act.org. Job seekers who don’t achieve desirable scores are offered remedial training to upgrade skills.

Steinhoff praised the strategic alliances that are being developed under this initiative. “Local workforce boards, economic developers, community colleges and the K-12 education community all have the ability to create and utilize a common tool to skill-up Missouri’s workforce.”

The MoCRC is currently being offered in eight of Missouri’s workforce regions (St. Louis City, St. Louis County, Jefferson–Franklin, Northwest, Southeast, Central, and Kansas City and Vicinity, and East Jackson County) covering the vast majority of the state’s population. There have been 4,373 MoCRCs issued since October 01, 2005. There are currently 32 sites statewide where the MoCRC can be attained.

The key to the early success of the MoCRC has been the partnership with economic development, the education community, and employers. See attachment for more information. Future MoCRC plans include expansion to Missouri’s remaining six workforce regions, addition of soft skills assessment and development, and increased market penetration with Missouri business and industry.

Three examples illustrate the level to which it is being driven by business skill demand: The St. Louis Career Centers and the University of Missouri-St. Louis are working with businesses such as the Ford and May companies to assist dislocated workers and individuals entering the carpenter’s apprentice program, by offering the MoCRC. Additionally, graduates from the St. Louis Special School district’s Career and Technical Education program receive MoCRCs along with their graduation certificate.

In Maryville, the Northwest Technical School has partnered with area manufacturers, Nodaway County Economic Development, and the Missouri Career Center to identify the skills sets needed in the manufacturing sector. Their program includes an opportunity for students to take the MoCRC assessments and compare their scores to the skills sets plant managers identify during tours of the manufacturers. Exide Technologies in Forest City has recently completed three profiles and initial testing of incumbent workers using the WorkKeys System.

Thirdly, the Southeast Region and Cape Girardeau Technology Career and Technology Center partner have partnered to produce a Workplace Readiness Credential Program that incorporates the MoCRC with soft skills training designed by local business and industry leaders. All graduates from the CTC who meet the target score receive a CRC with their diploma as part of a ‘portfolio’ to present to businesses.

The ACT event also launched the www.MyWorkKeys.com website and the NCRC website, which contains many elements that can help states and local areas promote the certificate: including a five-minute online video with business testimonials, a description of the system at work, and information for job-seekers, businesses, economic developers, and educators.

Missouri Receives Grant To Help Connect Disabled Missourians with Greater Job Opportunities

Missouri's fourteen local Workforce Investment Boards will oversee local implementation of a federal grant that will enhance the ability of working-age, disabled Missourians to find jobs by linking them to employment opportunities and improving access to services and work supports that help them successfully enter or reenter the workforce.

The Department of Economic Development’s Division of Workforce Development, in partnership with several state and local disability service providers, secured the $1.2 million cooperative grant from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Social Security Administration to implement the Disability Program Navigator Initiative. The program’s main goal is to increase employment and self-sufficiency for disabled individuals by providing universal access to employment and training services through more than 40 Missouri one-stop Career Centers statewide.

According to 2004 Census data, only 23.9 percent of working-age Missourians with disabilities had a full-time/full-year job compared to 58.9 percent for people with no disabilities -- a gap of 34.9 percent. Working age disabled are those age 21-64 with one or more self-reported disability. In 2004, 447,000 out of the 3.3 million working-age Missourians (13.6 percent) had disabilities, which was above the national average of 12.1 percent. Missouri had the 14th highest disability rate in the nation.

The Division will issue grants to each of Missouri’s 14 Local Workforce Investment Boards to partner with community rehabilitation providers and others to offer Disability Program Navigator services. Disability Program Navigators will function as experts on workforce development issues and policies impacting individuals with disabilities who are seeking employment, skill development, job retention assistance, or career advancement.

The focus of the navigators will be on increasing the employment rate for people with disabilities and training other staff on resources beneficial to the disabled through the workforce system, Social Security Administration employment support programs, and other available programs, including Ticket to Work. In addition, they will work with business and industry groups to improve the market penetration of programs serving this the disabled.

As part of the grant application process, the department sought input and received letters of support from state and local disability service providers including the Statewide Independent Living Council, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Department of Social Service’s Rehabilitation Services for the Blind program, the Governor's Council on Disabilities and the Missouri Planning Council for Developmental Disabilities. These groups will continue to meet quarterly to plan and support the implementation of the Navigator program.