Part-Time Jobs for a Lifetime of Success : Employment: A program run by Target Stores and the county Office of Education helps mentally disabled young adults develop skills to help them live on their own.

Leticia Moreno, 18, works the sales floor of the Target store in La Verne.

“I like Target. I work hard here,” says Moreno, who spends her time at tasks such as sorting bundles of yarn by color and placing them in appropriate bins in the domestic section.

She enjoys eating lunches with her co-workers at McDonald’s.

And, like all workers, she relishes depositing her paycheck into a bank account.

In Moreno’s case, however, placing the money in an account of her own carries with it a special pleasure. She never had one before she got her part-time job at Target two years ago.

Moreno is mentally disabled, one of four young women working at the store 6 1/2 hours each week as part of a countywide work/education program established between Target Stores and the Los Angeles County Office of Education. The goal is to help mentally disabled young adults and teen-agers develop work and living skills to prepare them to live on their own as adults.

Like other special education/work programs throughout the county, the Target program--pioneered two years ago at the La Verne store--is supervised by members of the county’s special education staff.

About 85 businesses in Los Angeles County take part in similar programs, providing part-time employment for about 210 young people.

But Target, which employs about 30 mentally disabled students in its Los Angeles County stores, is unusual in its willingness to take the students seriously, county officials say.

“They’re about the most unique program we’ve been involved with,” said Brenda Kranmer, area specialist for the county Office of Education.

For example, Target’s mentally disabled employees are given insurance benefits and are exposed to customers in their work on the sales floor.

Target’s regular employees have also become part of the education process: When the program started in the La Verne store, the personnel director assigned store supervisors to act as mentors with each student.

Recently, the company taped a 13-minute video at the La Verne store promoting the program. The tape features an introduction by Chris Burke, 24, an actor with Down’s syndrome who plays a teen-ager on the television series “Life Goes On.”

The corporate office plans to distribute the video to its stores nationwide.

“It’s a win-win situation,” said Bonnie Schultz, western regional director for Target Stores. “They’re reliable employees, and the other employees enjoy working with them.”

Customers who pass by with shopping carts occasionally gaze curiously at the students, but seem unfazed by their presence.

“It serves a purpose,” Pomona resident Ruth Young said. “They need to make a living, too.”

The other mentally disabled workers in the La Verne store are Letty Saldana, 19; Esther Diaz, 17, and Corazon Grindulo, 19. All live in Pomona.

The young women started their jobs at the entry-level salary of $4.45 an hour. All have received raises since, store officials said.

When they’re not working at Target, the four attend a special education program at Pomona High School.

The Target program was initiated at the request of special educator Dwight Bonds, who teaches at several learning centers for the disabled, including El Camino School in Pomona.

Bonds has also placed mentally disabled students in positions at local Von’s supermarkets, Johnson & Johnson lens manufacturing plant in Claremont, and branches of McDonald’s.

Bonds said the Target program is representative of an increasing willingness among businesses to hire mentally disabled workers.

He insists that although such workers need more guidance than other employees, they can hold their own when given certain tasks.

“We’re not pushing business to hire special education students out of charity,” he said. “Trainable mentally challenged workers are good for business.”

In fact, the special education students employed at Target have surprised their supervisors with their proficiency.

Likewise, Keena Spence, a Target supervisor who worked as a volunteer organizer of Special Olympics, says that the young women often plunge into their jobs without being prompted by supervisors.

“They go right to it,” she said.

Burke, who worked as an elevator operator in New York before acting in “Life Goes On,” feels the program puts forth positive images to customers.

“I think it is a wonderful program,” he said in an interview. “It shows what people with disabilities can do.”

Gloria Saldana says the Target program unleashed her daughter’s full potential.

“I really thought she couldn’t do it,” she said. “I thought, ‘Oh God, she would have so much pressure put on her.’ She surprised me.”

Now, she says her daughter feels pride in doing “something that nobody else can do but just her.”