South Bay : Community Given $300,000 Jobs Grant
The South Bay Samoan American community has received a $300,000 federal grant for training and job placement, Labor Secretary Robert Reich announced. About 100 residents will be selected to train in computer technology, the health field, customer service and other areas where there is local need.
The funding, which pays for training, counseling, remedial education and job search assistance, will be administered through the Carson/Torrance/Lomita Private Industry Council. Guiding the council’s efforts will be an advisory board of about a dozen Samoan community leaders and the mayors of the three South Bay cities.
“There is a renewed awareness in America today of the benefits of a diverse work force and of the multiplicity of talents they possess,” Reich said.
June Pouesi, director of the National Office of Samoan Affairs in Carson, said her organization was not contacted about the grant’s proposed use and added that she is skeptical about the program, although she would not specify why.
Of the up to 60,000 people of Samoan heritage in the Los Angeles area, Pouesi said, about two-thirds live in the South Bay and Long Beach areas.
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