On the Job : Training Program Lands 4 at Same Office Suite

In the sunny, pleasant insurance office suite in Orange, four of the 26 workers are alumnae of the same school--Rancho Santiago College.

The four women have more than college in common. They also are alumnae of the school of hard knocks. Each was desperate, in one way or another, and each found help through a special, federally financed job-training program that works through Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana.

Officials of the federal Job Training Partnership Act program say that while it’s unusual that four graduates would wind up being hired by a relatively small employer, the women’s success story is not that unusual.

“Of 108 workers trained by our program last year, 75 were placed in jobs,” said JTPA spokeswoman Susan Pleshe.

“And when we place people in jobs, they must be the upgraded jobs for which they’ve been trained.” Pleshe noted that the program seeks to help “the economically disadvantaged, the unemployed and the underemployed.”

Those eligible for the free college training include workers who lost their jobs because of plant layoffs; high school dropouts; older workers seeking to re-enter the work force, and youths who need a summer job, she said.

“Typically a training program is anywhere from three to six months,” Pleshe said, noting that the federal government pays all college costs, books, tools (for mechanical classes) and bus fares for those who don’t have transportation.

She added: “We’re very proud of the four women in this insurance office because each of them had special problems, such as Lourdes, who was worried about her age.”

Lourdes F. Orat, 64, is a widow. Before she immigrated to the United States from the Philippines six years ago to live with her daughter in Huntington Beach, Orat had experience as a schoolteacher.

“But I couldn’t find a teaching job when I moved to Huntington Beach,” said Orat, a tiny, vivacious woman. “Also, my family was opposed when I told them I wanted to go back to work. They just wanted me to stay home and baby-sit. I said that unless one uses the brain, one loses it. I wanted to go back to work.”

Grateful for Program

Orat told her story Thursday as she sat at her desk in the western regional office of the Allied Fidelity Insurance Co., near the City mall, in Orange. She loves her job now, she said, and is grateful for the federal training program that made it possible.

“When I heard of this JTPA program in Santa Ana, I went there,” she said. “I didn’t have any training at all (in skilled clerical work). They trained me in typing and bookkeeping, and they helped me to get the job.

“They trained me not only in skills, but on how to make a resume, what to do on an interview. . . . Now I’m not so worried about my age; I know there’s a place for me. I feel good about myself. I’m flying high now.”

Another Rancho Santiago College alumna, Ernell Bell of Huntington Beach, who sits near Orat, also said that she worried about her age when she became unemployed last year--especially since she’s a single parent with a 12-year-old daughter.

“I’m 48; I’m not a youngster,” said Bell. “I used to work for the telephone company in San Jose, but when I moved back to Southern California, I was unemployed.”

She learned of the JTPA program, she said, and signed up for clerical training at Rancho Santiago.

Learning updated skills made a difference, Bell said, adding: “It was a good feeling for me to know that I was marketable again.”

Donna Witherspoon, 41, works a computer in the insurance office and is also a graduate of the Rancho Santiago program. She is happy about her training experience, saying it helped ease the shock of being laid off at her old job last year.

“I was working at a manufacturing plant,” Witherspoon said, adding that the company was forced to make layoffs because of financial problems. “I had computer skills, but not typing skills, so I learned of the (JTPA) program from a friend of mine, and I enrolled last fall.

“My car was broken, and the program even furnished me bus passes. I went faithfully; I enjoy learning. I was glad of the opportunity to learn typing, because I was very much a hunt-and-peck typist.”

Witherspoon, who lives in Orange with her 21-year-old daughter, added: “I like my job here. And I really liked the opportunity I had to learn new things (at Rancho Santiago).”

Nearby, in the foyer of the insurance office, Teri Westfall, 27, of Santa Ana, answered the master phone system and greeted visitors. Like the other women, Westfall said that she enjoys her job, adding: “If I hadn’t taken the (JTPA) program, I’d probably be working in a hamburger restaurant.”

Westfall said she had previously “been ripped off for $3,500” by a private secretarial school operating in Santa Ana. “They said they’d train me and get me a job, but they didn’t help at all, and I’m still having to pay them money,” she explained.

By contrast, Westfall noted that the JTPA schooling she qualified for--as an unemployed single parent of a 9-year-old daughter--was totally paid for by the federal government. “And the (JTPA) program really taught me all kinds of skills,” she added.

Betty Greene, office manager for the insurance company, said she values all four of her employees who graduated from the JTPA program.

“They’re very motivated,” she said. “They’re eager and willing. The reason I have four from the program in this office is no accident; it was very calculating on my part. I’ve found the people trained by the (JTPA) program are good workers.”

The JTPA office is officially called the “Assessment and Referral Center” and is located in the Honer Plaza at 1381 West 17th St. in Santa Ana, across the street from Rancho Santiago College. The office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. The office also has a mobile unit that travels throughout the Santa Ana area from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Pleshe said training programs include clerical and secretarial (including computerized training); automotive technology; machine shop, and electronic assembly. She said those seeking more information should call the office at (714) 667-3405.