RUSSELLVILLE -- Russellville will be the launchpad for a $4.2 million pilot program to connect the workforce with education and job opportunities, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Friday during the Russellville Area Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting.
"This pilot will be starting right here in Russellville and include $4.2 million that will go to Arkansas Tech University to oversee this initiative and partnership," Hutchinson said, eliciting a standing ovation. "This is the first pilot of its kind, and hopefully with the success that will come here we can expand this initiative more."
Hutchinson announced the Ready for Life program in January, a $14.7 million initiative funded from the Governor's Emergency Education Relief Fund, which is part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
About $200,000 of that funding was allocated for marketing the program to students and employers.
The web-based initiative, which can be accessed at readyforlife.arkansas.gov, will connect job seekers, educators and employers, and will include job openings as well as pointing those seeking work to continuing education opportunities to match their career goals.
While the Arkansas unemployment rate of 3.4% is at a historic low, the state is still challenged in finding workers to fill necessary jobs, Hutchinson said.
"We've got to increase those in our workforce," he said, praising Russellville for establishing a workforce development team, and strengthening worker education and training.
The website offers tools to build resumes, view job opportunities and take online courses for high-demand skills. It also gives employers -- even out-of-state ones -- access to the resumes and training results of job seekers.
The program will be available to high school students and also focus on serving the underemployed and formerly incarcerated, Hutchinson said.
The program also helps identify future skill needs, and will develop training programs that meet the demand of the community.
"Ready For Life will make it easier for employees and employers to find each other, and it will offer business leaders a quick snapshot of the state of the employee pool in Arkansas as they recruit talent," Hutchinson said.
In March, Hutchinson hired former Pea Ridge School Superintendent Rick Neal as the director of Workforce, Education and Data Transformation and put him in charge of coordinating the Ready for Life initiative.
The funding will allow Arkansas Tech University to build a career coaching model and will allow the university to partner with the Society for Human Resources Management to develop and implement the program.
The pilot program is one aspect of the Arkansas Tech Institute, which aims to create a non-credit educational and training entity that would utilize career coaching, previous learning assessment, work-based learning opportunities and micro-credentials -- training in a specific skill -- to connect adult learners, underemployed workers and unemployed individuals with career advancement and support economic development in the Arkansas River Valley.
Agriculture, business, computer science, emergency management, engineering, health care and technical programs are among the disciplines that could be included in the programming provided by the Arkansas Tech Institute.
"Arkansas Tech is grateful to Gov. Asa Hutchinson for this demonstration of support for the enhanced culture of workforce development that is on the rise in the Arkansas River Valley," Arkansas Tech President Robin E. Bowen said in a statement. "Our university is pleased to play an integral role in the efforts to bring more and better career opportunities to our region."
Hutchinson also told the crowd that "a lot of money" was coming into the state from the federal $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.
"It's going to be a unique opportunity where we can look at water projects, we can look at irrigation projects -- projects that are hard for us to afford as a state and we have to invest more," Hutchinson said. "I encourage this community to develop plans and thoughts so that when those grant opportunities come to fruition and the opportunity presents itself, you can be online, you can present the best opportunity and the best case for the investment."
Hutchinson ended the speech at the banquet by saying he was "pretty excited" about the state's future.
"And I know they say, 'Well, he's just got one year left.' Let me tell you, this year is going to be a great year," Hutchinson said, referring to the last of his eight years in office as governor. "We're going to do a lot during that time. We're not slowing down from what we want to do here in this state."