Business View Magazine | April 2020

257 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE APRIL 2020 POPLAR BLUFF , MI SSOUR I reading, and science reasoning.) “Also, within the last few years, we passed a school bond issue, which allowed all of our schools to be safer and to be renovated. We now have a beautiful new high school campus with new sports facilities and new STEM buildings. It just looks great. Three Rivers College is also adding many new facilities including the Libla Family Sports Complex, which was funded, mainly, from local donations.” “The other example I would give is that we take property and get it ready, then we market it to prospects; we’re always looking for new land. In the past, we’ve also done things creatively with buildings to entice companies to come. We’re very business-friendly as far as permitting and zoning and utilities. And we’re always looking to have a diverse workforce so we’re not ingrained into one specific industry where, if something happens to that industry, it takes the whole community down.” certified. We’ve got an essential skills program called Gateway to Jobs; we work with our local high school to help those students, because we all know how important workforce skills are to economic development.” (Work Ready Communities (WRC) is a national effort, led by ACT, to provide a framework for states, regions, and communities to build an economic-development, community-based approach grounded in certifying counties as Work Ready. ACT awards this certification when counties achieve goals, based on common criteria, of individuals in the workforce earning an ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate and businesses recognizing or recommending the ACT WorkKeys NCRC. The ACT, originally an abbreviation of American College Testing, is a standardized test used for college admissions in the United States. It is currently administered by ACT, the nonprofit organization of the same name. The ACT test covers four academic skill areas: English, mathematics,