Youths Get a Jump-Start on Success : Training: Program seeks to boost at-risk students’ self-esteem and teaches basic skills needed in the workplace.

His enthusiasm is infectious.

Dressed in the Foot Locker’s trademark black and white striped referee’s shirt, with a mischievous smile and one knee bouncing nervously up and down, Robert Balderrama wants to sell you something. Anything.

Be it shoes, self-esteem or common sense, the 18-year-old graduate of the We Care for Youth job training program at the Montebello Town Center is on a roll.

But two years ago, things were not all upbeat. Midway through high school, Balderrama said, he was bored and disruptive in the classroom. He left Montebello High School on his principal’s recommendation and transferred to Vail High School, a continuation school from which he graduated this spring.

When he started the job training program in May, Balderrama said, he had a good attitude but was not really prepared for the working world. “I didn’t know how to take on life,” he said. “I knew what road to take. I just needed a jump-start.”

For three weeks, Balderrama and 86 other at-risk youths took part in separate programs designed to provide that jump-start. They attended two-hour classes three days a week at either the Glendale Galleria or the Montebello Town Center.

The program trains young people how to improve their self-esteem, set goals and develop the basic skills needed in the retail workplace.

The program is the brainchild of Glendale community activists Linda Maxwell, a publicist for the Spanish-language television station KVEA Channel 52, based in Glendale, and Jose Quintanar, a Glendale College administrator.

The first program was held at the Glendale Galleria in October, 1992. Gaining the sponsorship of Donahue Schriber, the mall’s parent company, the program returned to Glendale in May and opened at the company’s other property, the Montebello Town Center. Volunteer instructors and members of the state’s Employment Development Department conduct the sessions.

“The program is about helping the young people believe in themselves,” Maxwell said. “What we know about working with young people is that they don’t have any hope anymore. We have to help them find the hope in themselves.”

Although an emphasis was put on organizing personal schedules, goal-setting, personal presentation and dealing with prejudice, Balderrama said, the program’s greatest gift to the participants is its emphasis on self-esteem.

“When you reach a goal, they teach you, ‘Don’t stop at one goal, keep going,’ ” Balderrama said.

Foot Locker manager Jeff Henley said Balderrama came to him with personality and confidence that impressed him.

Foot Locker was one of 20 merchants at the Montebello shopping mall involved with the project, while 23 Glendale Galleria merchants offered their services. The city of Glendale operates the Glendale Youth Employment Partnership and provides resources and staff support to the We Care for Youth organization.

Of the 301 students who have attended the programs, 200 met state employment standards and only 67 landed jobs after graduation. A lot of the youths couldn’t get jobs because they were underage, Maxwell said. But the program, which is open to all youths, is not designed to guarantee a job, she said, but to prepare young people for the working world.

For Balderrama, the program is paying off.

Soon after he joined Foot Locker, Balderrama moved out of his parents’ home and into an apartment. He recently bought a secondhand Jeep and is enrolled at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.

Balderrama said he eventually would like to transfer to a four-year institution, majoring in business marketing or advertising.

“Life’s pretty fun for me right now,” Balderrama said. “I’m trying to conquer everything that comes my way.”