BATON ROUGE, La. - Angie White, Senior Vice President of Workforce Initiatives for North Louisiana Economic Partnership (NLEP), was honored March 27, 2019 as the ACT Workforce Champion for the State of Louisiana at a ceremony and reception at the Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge, LA. Her leadership in promoting the ACT Work Ready Communities (WRC) initiative across North Louisiana earned her this honor from ACT, a nonprofit organization that offers the college entrance exam and the WorkKeys career readiness test. Last night’s award ceremony kicks off the 2019 Louisiana ACT Summit today in Baton Rouge on March 28^th.

“This is a tremendous honor because I am in the trenches with many partners on our Work Ready Communities team who have also made a big impact,” said Angie White, NLEP SVP, Workforce. “This program has created a large coalition of business, education and workforce partners all working toward the same goal. Our success will directly benefit members of the workforce, including those in high school, and local employers by helping them make better hiring decisions.”

The ACT College and Career Readiness Champions are individuals who support ACT’s mission of fostering education and workplace success. ACT State Councils, comprised of education and workforce professionals from 50 states, served as the selection committee and chose a Champion in each of the four categories from participating states. These categories include Student, K-12, Postsecondary and Workforce Champions, who made a positive impact on their communities through their efforts to advance college and career readiness.

“We all know inspiring individuals who work tirelessly for the advancement of college and career readiness for all students,” said Scott Montgomery, ACT Senior Vice President of State and Federal Programs. “The ACT College and Career Readiness Champions initiative lifts up their stories so that more people can be inspired to find their own path to success through the motivation and determination of the seniors, K-12, postsecondary and workforce champions leading the way.”

White is leading the charge to certify 14 parishes in NLEP’s service territory as ACT Work Ready Communities (WRC).  The WRC certification means the community is taking steps to close its skills gap- the mismatch between the skills that employers need and the available skill sets in the existing workforce. This WRC program helps communities measure and close the skills gap by using the ACT WorkKeys exam. This test measures a person’s readiness for a career in three foundational skill areas: applied math; graphic literacy and workplace documents, which tests reading comprehension and the ability to follow instructions.   

The two-year WRC certification process requires that parishes meet certain goals, including using the ACT WorkKeys exam to test their existing, emerging and transitional workforce and to gain support from employers. Angie’s work with WRC began in 2017 with the Bossier, Caddo, DeSoto and Webster parishes and has gained momentum across North Louisiana.  Bienville, Claiborne, Jackson, Lincoln, Morehouse, Ouachita, Richland and Union Parishes have joined the effort. 

“We are very proud of Angie’s recognition as the ACT Workforce Champion for Louisiana,” said Scott Martinez, NLEP President. “Her work with Work Ready Communities ensures that our region can better document the skills of our regional workforce, which will help attract new companies to North Louisiana and support existing employers.” 

White also received local recognition on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 when she was acknowledged at the Shreveport City Council. Councilwoman LeVette Fuller proposed a resoltion to recognize Angie’s work with ACT Work Ready Communities which was passed by the City Council.

Learn more about the ACT College & Career Readiness Champions here.