AGOURA : Disabled Set Their Sights on Landing Jobs

Most days, the developmentally disabled men and women take odd jobs not so much for the money but to gain enough confidence to get a job on their own.

Although none of them are paid even minimum wage for doing gardening, assembly and other work, the residents of Villa Esperanza in Agoura take perhaps more pride in their efforts than the typical person, said John Eicher, one of the program’s directors.

“Just being productive gives everyone here a really healthy attitude,” Eicher said. “A person may get less than a dollar for a pay period because they’re not able to produce very much, but the fact that they’re getting a paycheck at all is very important to them.”

The work program includes pruning, mowing and watering the yards of about 10 residences between Agoura and Thousand Oaks, assembling parts for various manufacturers and creating arts and crafts for sale in a boutique, Eicher said. It is part of a larger effort at Villa Esperanza to prepare many of the residents, aged 22 to 50, for independent jobs in the community, he said.

Most of the residents work much more slowly than the average employee, and are paid according to a productivity scale established by the state, Eicher said.

The ranch in the hills of unincorporated Agoura is a branch of the Pasadena-based Villa Esperanza, which operates about a dozen homes for the developmentally disabled, using mostly state funds. The Agoura site is home to 18 people with developmental, but not physical, disabilities.

Resident Grant Vernon, 32, said he hopes to eventually land a job outside the Villa Esperanza program dumping trash and dusting in an office or using a copy machine at a print shop.

“I like working,” Vernon said. “It’s fun, and I think it feels good for me to have a job, especially with the economy in the shape it’s in.”