Job Corps Program in Downtown YWCA Named as Best in U.S.

‘It gave us a chance to work with young people--both men and women--who need a second chance in life.’

Sophia Ramos glanced at the computer screen with a practiced eye. Her fingers roamed confidently across the keyboard.

“I’ve been here a year and four months, and I’ve learned a lot,” the 18-year-old South Gate resident said, pausing briefly between lessons at the Job Corps training center on South Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles.

“They’re really concerned about you here,” she said. “They really do a good job.”

So good a job, in fact, that the U.S. Department of Labor has selected the Los Angeles YWCA, which operates the center, as the “best overall Job Corps center operator-contractor in the United States.”

Based on Formula

Officials said that means the Los Angeles center--which has ranked consistently among the top 10 of about 100 Job Corps training facilities across the nation over the last 23 years--has finally made it to first place.

Center Director Leadie Clark said the ranking is based on a formula that includes improvement in the students’ math and reading skills, the rate at which they acquire high school-equivalency diplomas, success in completing vocational training and--perhaps most important--the success the center’s graduates have in finding and holding jobs.

According to the Department of Labor, the job placement rate for the Los Angeles center is about 90%.

A regional director for the Labor Department, Bart Hess, presented officials of the Los Angeles center with a bronze plaque Tuesday in recognition of its work in providing vocational training for more than 17,000 young adults from the Los Angeles area since the YWCA was given the initial contract to open and operate a Job Corps training program in 1965.

The associate executive director of the YWCA branch, Ethel Sanford-Smith, said the Young Women’s Christian Assn. is one of the few nonprofit groups to be given contracts to run Job Corps programs; most are administered by government agencies.

‘A Second Chance’

“We saw it as an opportunity to do more than we could through our regular YWCA programs,” she said. “It gave us a chance to work with young people--both men and women--who need a second chance in life.”

Officials said the center’s students are between the ages of 16 and 22 who--because of incomplete education, cultural disadvantage or lack of opportunity--have failed to acquire the skills necessary to compete in today’s job market.

About half of the 700 students now enrolled in the Los Angeles Job Corps live with their families. The other half live at the corps’ two residence halls--the renovated Case Hotel, at 11th Street and Broadway, and the old Studio Club in Hollywood, former home to such budding starlets as Donna Reed, Rita Moreno and Marilyn Monroe.

During the training period, which usually ranges between six and 18 months--the students receive a modest stipend to cover expenses.

Two Job Skills

If necessary, the students receive instruction in basic mathematics and English before moving on to vocational training. Most students learn at least two skills, to give them flexibility when entering the job market.

The vocational training covers a wide spectrum; the center at 10th and Hill streets focuses on instruction in office skills, such as typing and computer operation.

“I had real bad grades in high school,” said Wendy Hughes, an 18-year-old Wilshire-area resident enrolled in a typing class.

“They help me more here, and I’m doing a lot better now,” Hughes said. “I’m really glad I did it, because now I’ve got my GED (high school-equivalency diploma) and I’m learning to type, and after that I’m going to learn to be an X-ray technician.”

Officials said that after students complete their vocational classroom instruction, they get six weeks of on-the-job training, with their salaries paid by the Job Corps. After that, for better than nine out of 10, comes a full-time job in the work force.

“When I came here, I didn’t have the right skills,” said Ruby Woods, 21, a recent arrival from Houston who is training for secretarial work.

“The people here have helped me a lot,” she said. “I know I’m going to make it.”