Friends Outside : A year-old St. Vincent de Paul Society program helps Orange County gang members, juvenile criminals and other at-risk youths with counseling, referrals and a placement service to find jobs. So far, employers have been receptive.

Assume you’re trying to land a job during a time when the economic pendulum is barely beginning to swing up. Assume further that you have little or no experience at any job of any kind. And, by the way, you have a recent criminal record.

As far as much of the world of employment is concerned, you’re persona non grata.

That is what sticks in the craw of many at-risk youths, who let the idea of an actual job linger in their minds for an instant before the memory of wary stares in public places demolishes it.

“They drive through a fast food restaurant (for a meal),” says Al Hanna, “and they say that people look at them only as gang bangers. They have a very low comfort level there, very low self-esteem. After all, if you can’t walk into a place like that (to eat), how can you walk into the Disney offices for a job interview?”

Still, Javier Rivera has done just that. The 17-year-old from Garden Grove, who recently served time in Orange County Juvenile Hall for auto theft, made what he and his new group of friends consider to be a solid showing in a pair of interviews for a staff position at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim.

Javier is one of a handful of juvenile offenders who have gotten a leg up on a job with the help of a year-old program called Friends Outside, sponsored by the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Orange County. Designed as a counseling, referral and placement service for gang members, other at-risk youths and juvenile criminals who might otherwise never consider interviewing for a job, Friends Outside grew out of a more conventional style of jailhouse ministry.

More than a year ago, said Hanna, a program volunteer, the society had been conducting Bible studies and one-on-one counseling with youths in detention, “but to be more productive, we thought we ought to be able to make a bridge between their release and potential employment. We could talk a good fight, but we took it a step further to actually meet Mr. Employer.”

And, so far, Mr. Employer appears to be receptive. At a job fair held last month by Friends Outside, 104 young people and several representatives of area companies--including Disney, Carl’s Jr. and St. Joseph Hospital--got a closer look at each other and apparently liked what they saw. Five kids are working in regular jobs they found through the program, and almost another 20 are actively looking and interviewing.

Some of these kids are at greater risk of recidivism to juvenile hall than many of their peers, said juvenile hall director Tom Wright. In a recent study, more than 6,000 juvenile offenders were tracked through the justice system and, Wright said, 70% never returned to juvenile hall. Another 22% were back a second or third time; the remaining 8% returned more often--as many as 13 times. Many of the youths who go to the Friends Outside program, Wright said, are probably in that troubled 30%.

But some employers apparently don’t see that status as an automatic stigma.

“(The employers) realize that these are people coming from a troubled background who have a desire to break out of that,” Hanna said. “There are negatives in that many employers are not hiring anybody right now, and they may think, ‘Why would I want to hire an at-risk kid when I could hire somebody white collar?’ But they say they’ll talk to the kids, and they’re more willing after they talk. They see that it’s a benefit to the entire community in that this kid, if he’s hired, now becomes a role model.”

Which is how Javier is beginning to see himself. Involved in the Friends Outside program for about 2 1/2 months, Javier says he now feels comfortable with the program staff and is making a strong effort to succeed.

“They’re nice people here, and it does help in (juvenile hall) to think about doing better, but when you’re outside, it’s not so easy,” he said. “When you get out, you can get back into doing the same things. I’m trying to stay out of trouble now: no hanging out with the homies.”

Partly as a result of his positive attitude, Javier said he was treated cordially during his two interviews, “not like just this criminal.”

Javier’s open-arm reception was helped by a bit of tutoring beforehand. Interview candidates are briefed by the Friends Outside staff on what they can expect to hear and see in an interview and are coached on basic job interview techniques, even appearance. Because many of the young people don’t own clothes appropriate for a job interview, arrangements are sometimes made with the St. Vincent de Paul clothing center in Orange.

It was requests for just that sort of help that spawned the Friends Outside jobs program, said Joan O’Brien, a volunteer. During the seven years she worked as a volunteer at juvenile hall, O’Brien said, the youths serving time would constantly ask her for help and advice about getting jobs.

“They weren’t comfortable with the whole job situation,” she said. “It was difficult for them to imagine. That’s when Al (Hanna) and I got together on it. We knew we couldn’t just put somebody in a $5-an-hour job and tell them that this is what it is to work. That wouldn’t do it. They also had to know what to expect down the line. They needed a friend, some support, not just someone to throw them into a job and forget about them.”

And not just the job applicants themselves, but other members of their family. Friends Outside, said program coordinator Sandi Burns, also makes provisions for siblings of juvenile offenders and offers them counseling and, in some cases, a chance to work at paid jobs or volunteer positions. Family support groups meet at the St. Vincent de Paul headquarters in Orange once a week, Burns said, and many young family members--generally from age 14 to 17--are assisted by Sister Rose Marie Redding, the program’s job developer.

“Some of them are living in amazing situations,” said Burns, “in which not one but both parents may be incarcerated, and the kids are living with grandparents. They have special needs that we try to address.”

Sometimes, she said, family members visit the headquarters spontaneously.

“A lot of the kids,” Burns said, “just like to come in and answer phones, just to be around the atmosphere here.”

The nondenominational program, Burns said, can use them. It’s being run by four staff members and three interns.

“We have no budget for the jobs program,” she said. “It’s a leap of faith. I’ve written several grants and been turned down for several. We’re going to fight for what we believe, but right now we’re taking baby steps.”

As is Carlos Madrigal--though his steps seem solid. Carlos, 17, who lives in Santa Ana, is working three days a week at an entry-level job at Independent Forge, a manufacturer of aircraft parts based in Orange. He is shy, smiles easily and appears to enjoy learning how to de-burr the aluminum parts with a compressed-air grinding tool.

“I know what it’s like,” said Rosemary Ruiz, co-owner of the business. “You’re young; you’re scared; you don’t know what the heck you’re doing. But he’s doing good. Eventually, I know I’ll find a little niche for him, something he’ll really like.

“I feel that all of them, all young people, we’ve got to give them a chance, because that’s the future of America. But I’m not doing it because I feel sorry for them. They’re earning their keep. This is important, though, because it will open the eyes of other business owners. I feel strongly that businesses can fit in a little one here and there. Why not help somebody? God will help you.”

Meanwhile, Carlos smiles at the prospect of his first paycheck and even ventures a thought about the future. He admits that if he weren’t on the factory floor, he’d “probably be on the streets.

“(But) if I keep this up,” he says, “I’ll probably stay here.”