SOUTH-CENTRAL : Referral Program Helps 1,000 Find Jobs
The Los Angeles Renaissance Program has started a job-referral program to help unemployed African-Americans find work.
The nonprofit subsidiary of the First AME Church has developed a job bank that lists openings with companies such as the Walt Disney Co. and Ingram Micro, one of the nation’s largest computer distributors, said Mark Witlock, executive director of the program. More than 1,000 individuals have found work since the program began in late May, Witlock said.
The job bank includes summer, full- and part-time entry-level and management positions. When a company has job openings, the Renaissance Program sets up a two-day workshop and job fair at the First AME Church in which participants learn job-hunting skills the first day and meet with recruiters on the second.
For some African-Americans, it is a last resort in an increasingly competitive job market.
Maurice Canon, 36, said the program and workshop offer a real chance to find a job. Canon, a security guard, was laid off from Hughes Aircraft in August. “I’m willing to do anything to make ends meet,” he said. “I think I can find work here.”
Canon was one of the 60 who participated in an interviewing and resume-writing workshop at First AME on Wednesday. Ingram Micro representatives interviewed workshop participants Thursday.
Cynthia Baker, Ingram Micro community relations director, said the workshop was part of the company’s effort to help rebuild Los Angeles in the aftermath of the April-May riots. “This makes good business sense because we worked with companies in the area that were burned out,” Baker said.
Ingram Micro hopes to hire six to 10 people for full-time warehouse positions and will also consider applicants for about 40 clerical jobs, Baker said. The warehouse workers will earn $7 an hour as entry-level employees. She said the company will fill the positions within a week.
A van pool service will take the new workers from South-Central to the company’s offices in Orange County.
