VENTURA : Job Training to Start in January

As many as 75 troubled young adults from Ventura will have the opportunity to learn job-hunting skills ranging from personal grooming to resume writing in a new federally funded program set to begin in January.

The Job Training Council of Ventura County has hired Tomkinson & Associates, an Oxnard employment training firm, to use $286,000 in federal funds to run the jobs program from the West Park Community Center in west Ventura.

Although Tomkinson and other agencies already run similar federally funded programs in Oxnard and elsewhere in the county, this will be the first such job-training effort based in Ventura, said Lolina Talili, vice president of Tomkinson.

The program is geared toward men and women, ages 18 to 21, who come from low-income families and who face obstacles in the work world. For example, pregnant teen-agers or young people who have been convicted of a crime are among those targeted for the job training.

During the program, youths will attend about three weeks of classes on such topics as basic math and keeping a positive attitude.

After that, Tomkinson will find jobs for them, ranging from salesclerk to print-shop worker. The average pay for the jobs is $5 to $6 per hour, Talili said.

The work will last only six to eight weeks. The goal of the program, Talili said, is to bolster the young people’s confidence and experience so that they can find and keep permanent jobs.

“It enables these young people to become self-sufficient,” she said.

Talili said the agency has a 70% success rate at placing youths from such training programs in permanent jobs after their temporary positions end.

For information or to nominate someone for the program, call Michele Clisby at 385-3671.