Central Los Angeles : Center Honors Community Service

The Los Angeles Opportunities Industrialization Center honored community members and corporations Wednesday evening at the group’s third annual Gold Key Award dinner in downtown Los Angeles.

The honorees are the James Irvine Foundation, which has donated $400,000 to the center since its inception in 1993; Texaco, for giving $100,000 and providing training staff; the West Basin Water District, for employing center trainees; Thomas L. Stevens, president emeritus of Los Angeles Trade Technical College for his commitment to education; Rabbi Harvey Fields, senior rabbi at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, for being a positive religious leader, and County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke for her public service.

The South-Central Los Angeles center opened in response to the 1992 riots and provides job training and placement for the unemployed and underemployed. Services provided by the organization are open to all Los Angeles residents, including people who traditionally have trouble finding employment such as ex-felons and recovering substance abusers.