Housing Official Takes New Job in Hopes of Helping More People

San Fernando Gardens resident Irma Morales tried to smile when she heard that Mario Matute, project director for the public housing development’s community service center, had taken another job.

“Mario,” she said. “You are leaving?”

A minute later Morales cried openly.

“Por que?” she asked, between sobs. “Why?”

To help more people in the largely Latino, largely poor community improve their lives, he said. Taking on his new role as work force development director for the Valley Economic Development Center, a nonprofit group, would enable him to reach far more of the needy. In his new position, Matute hopes to expand many of the job training opportunities he helped introduce at the public housing development.

But making the decision to leave was not easy.

“I took two months to decide,” said the 41-year-old Canyon Country resident. “What we created here was absolutely a family with one mission: to help the families and residents of Pacoima have better lives.”

The small, slender man has been an important figure in the northeast San Fernando Valley neighborhood, which has qualified in recent years for a number of government programs. Earlier this year, Pacoima was declared part of a federal empowerment zone, a designation local leaders believe will generate more jobs and business opportunities.

In Matute’s eight years at San Fernando Gardens, the only major public housing development in the Valley, he has been the force behind programs ranging from computer training for adults and affordable child care for working parents to literacy classes for children. Most significantly for Matute, about 500 residents have gone through job training since he came to the development in 1990, and the vast majority have jobs.

“We’ve been able to work with people with no job history or very little job history and teach them all of the basics,” he said.

George McQuade, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Housing Authority, said Matute’s work for the agency has been an inspiration to others. McQuade said that he and others at the housing authority were shocked to hear Matute was leaving but were glad to know he would continue to push for greater opportunities in the community.

“He isn’t gone,” McQuade said. “He’s just down the street, and I’m sure we’ll still be working together. He’s a perfect match for his new job.”

For co-workers and residents, Matute has been much more than an administrator. On Friday, when he told his staff members that he was resigning, many cried.

Matute plans to meet with San Fernando Gardens residents next week to answer questions about his departure and housing authority plans to find a replacement.

For Morales, who volunteers at the computer center several days a week, the loss was personal.

“Mario is my special friend,” she said. “He has been a good friend to everyone here.”

In his new job, Matute will conduct job training programs through the parent centers at five local schools. The work is of particular importance to Matute, who said he also started with nothing when he first came to the U.S. from El Salvador.

Matute said he always sees a reflection of himself in the people he tries to help. He entered this country illegally in 1982 at a time when his homeland was torn by civil war. He made his way to Mexico and into the United States crossing rivers and highways on foot.

He later was granted political amnesty. The young man who had no formal education in El Salvador and spoke no English when he crossed the border, earned a GED and a college degree within years. He became a U.S. citizen two years ago.

“If I can do it, anyone can,” he said. “But it is hard work.’

Matute said he believes his work at San Fernando Gardens has made a difference. He has thought a lot about the residents he has helped to move into their own houses and apartments. And he has thought a lot about the people he’ll be leaving behind.

“I can still remember the first day I got here. There were burned-out cars on the street and graffiti everywhere,” said Matute, whose eyes began to water. “Now I believe it is a safe place to raise your family. It is very hard to leave.”