Electronics Firm Gives $600,000 to Rebuild L.A.

Focusing attention on the pressing problem of inner-city unemployment, Pioneer Electronics, the consumer products giant, announced Wednesday that it would donate $600,000 for a job-training program in Watts and educational programs to be created by Rebuild L.A., the post-riot revitalization organization.

Rebuild L.A. Chairman Peter V. Ueberroth, Mayor Tom Bradley and other officials at a Watts news conference said they hoped Pioneer’s example would prompt other companies to launch similar initiatives.

Setsujiro Onami, president of Pioneer Electronics USA, said $500,000 would go for the two-year electronics training program and $100,000 to Rebuild L.A. education programs.

“When we met with community leaders to discuss ways in which Pioneer could help rebuild Los Angeles, the No. 1 problem identified was joblessness,” Onami said at the Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center in the heart of Watts. “Pioneer employees want to donate more than money to the healing process. We want to impact the lives of South-Central students today and tomorrow.”

Onami said that upon completing the program, graduates would be qualified for entry-level, $20,000-a-year electronics technician jobs. Some students will be hired by Pioneer and some referred to other electronics firms, Onami said. Participants also will be offered paid summer internships at Pioneer facilities.

Warren Furutani, president of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, said 30 students will be enrolled in the program in September, drawn primarily from nearby Jordan and Locke high schools.

Ueberroth hailed Pioneer as a “corporate good citizen. . . . This company did this on their own; no one forced them to do it.” But he noted that there were logical reasons for Tokyo-based Pioneer to make the gift. “California is the greatest market in the world,” Ueberroth said. “It should be good business for them to recognize the importance of the inner city.”

In response to a question, Ueberroth reiterated that he was not concerned about the pace of Rebuild L.A.’s work. “This is not a horse race,” said Ueberroth, who again delayed announcing more members of the reconstruction group’s board. “Rebuild L.A. is talking quietly to companies around the world. We’re not looking to please the media, we’re looking for real jobs for people.”

Based in Long Beach, Pioneer has 10 units in the United States, including a 600-employee plant in Carson that specializes in making compact disc players.

The first students in the program will be high school juniors and seniors who will take classes in electronics servicing and repair. Arnold Alton Jr., principal of the Waters center, where the electronics program will be housed, said they will learn on state-of-the-art equipment, taught by certified instructors.

Dorothy Rochelle, a member of the center’s advisory council, said area residents are angry about negative stereotypes that hamper them in their efforts to find good jobs. If the 1965 Watts riots had “been followed by this kind of action, we wouldn’t be in the shape we’re in today--and we’re in bad shape,” she said. The unemployment rate for black men in South Los Angeles is 40%.

Also on Wednesday, the city’s Private Industry Council announced that it has launched an outreach program to link job applicants with a broader variety of employers.

The industry council’s staff administers job-training grants for trade schools and private employers through the federal Job Training Partnership Act, a program that has been criticized in numerous studies for failing to provide long-term jobs.

Jasper Williams, a manager in the city’s Community Development Department, which functions as the Private Industry Council’s staff, said three positions have been added to encourage more employers to hire newly trained workers.

Currently, the industry council’s job-training program has relationships with only 2% to 3% of Los Angeles’ employers, Williams said.

In past years, the Private Industry Council was criticized for weak job-placement efforts and limited referrals. Wednesday’s presentation by the industry council to the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce was the first time the industry council and the chamber have held a job-training conference.

In a speech at the event, Ueberroth said increased cooperation between the industry council and employers is crucial. “The private sector has looked away from the inner city,” he said. “There are a lot of people in the center of the city who have not been given a fair chance.”

Times staff writer Bob Baker contributed to this story.