City OKs El Proyecto for Job-Training Plan

El Proyecto del Barrio received preliminary approval Monday to be the new administrative agency for the city’s customized job training program.

In an agreement with Jerry’s Famous Deli, the Panorama City program will train hard-to-place or displaced workers for jobs at the delicatessen.

The Los Angeles City Council’s Community and Economic Development Committee approved El Proyecto as the new administrator of the year-old customized training project agreement with Jerry’s at a committee meeting Monday.

The issue will go to the full council and the mayor’s office for final approval, but the organization has worked informally with Jerry’s for three months and already has placed nine people with the restaurant chain, city officials said.

El Proyecto’s Workforce Development Center will target those who have been out of the mainstream job market for a while or have few marketable skills, said Corinne Sanchez, president and chief executive officer of El Proyecto.

“These people are not necessarily those who have the experience or skills to go right into a job,” she said. “We find people who may not go to Jerry’s, or who Jerry’s might not seek out.”

As part of the project agreement, El Proyecto would receive $317,000 from the city to facilitate and manage the program through the end of 1998.

As an incentive to hire these job seekers, Jerry’s will pay only half of the new employee’s salary--the agency will pay the other half--for the three-month training period, which includes work experience and classroom instruction, city officials said.

Jobs available will include positions as cooks, servers, cashiers and assistant managers, Sanchez said.

Sanchez said El Proyecto sees from 50 to 100 job seekers a month in its Panorama City offices. The organization also will handle referrals from other nonprofit agencies throughout the city wanting to place people with the delicatessen.

For more information about the program, call (818) 830-7080.