Jobs Program Gives Edge to N. Hollywood Students

Students from North Hollywood High School--the site of recent race-related violence--will get help landing jobs at Laurel Plaza Mall under an agreement outlined Tuesday by the school, the shopping center developer and the local Chamber of Commerce.

Calling the program the first of its kind in Los Angeles, the organizers said they hope to spawn similar efforts in other areas.

“We have to go back to this sense of community, where people care about one another,” school Principal Catherine Lum said. “This is bigger than just one mall. This is a beginning.”

The jobs program initially was to coincide with a still-pending proposal by Laurel Plaza’s owner, Forest City Development, to expand the mall. But because of the citywide riots last spring and the recent unrest at North Hollywood High, the program is now to begin in January, said Everett H. Shine, Forest City’s vice president.

“Since the Los Angeles riots, we’ve heard over and over that many of the problems are that there are no jobs,” Shine said. “The recent events in Los Angeles, though destructive, can be the impetus for positive change.”

The “Jobs for the Community and Youth Program” offers no guarantees to job-seekers. But about 30 of the mall’s 34 merchants have agreed to give North Hollywood High students and community residents the first crack at interviews for part-time openings.

There are about 1,500 workers at the mall, including those employed at May Co., the shopping center’s only department store. Sponsors of the jobs program said they could not estimate how many jobs might be filled through their efforts.

Some mall merchants said they intend to give qualified students top priority in hiring. “I have told them if I have an opening, I will give them the first opportunity,” said Roger Lampert, owner of Art of Collecting.

Ira Lenok, owner of A la Card, said he hoped the program would create a steady supply of part-time help.

Fighting broke out on campus in October among hundreds of black and Latino students and police were called to quell the disturbance. The incident sparked similar confrontations at other Los Angeles Unified School District campuses in the days following.

In connection with the jobs program, Lum said her school has also begun a “warranty program” to certify to store owners that students applying for jobs have at least a C average, as well as good attendance and citizenship records. Students will be asked to put together portfolios of their academic records, awards and activities.

Non-student job applicants from the community must only prove that they are North Hollywood residents to get preference in lining up interviews.

James M. Mahfet, executive vice president of the Universal City-North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce--one of the program’s sponsors--said another goal of the jobs plan is to help keep money from leaving the area. “When you employ in the community, then the money stays in the community,” he said.

But Joel Greenberg, owner of the Real Faces photography studio in the mall, said aside from the value of the jobs program to the community, the program’s true purpose is “to make Forest City Development look like good guys” to help the company win city approval for its expansion plans.

Many local residents are opposed to the expansion, which would add three department stores and about 100 new shops and could force some existing tenants to shut down during construction.