Training Offered for Health Care Jobs

Two Catholic organizations have launched a five-year, $2.5-million jobs program to train low-income people in the home health and day-care industries.

The joint welfare-to-work project is expected to create more than 500 jobs in eight new businesses, including perhaps a home health venture in Los Angeles. The initiative has been recognized as one of Pope John Paul II’s “100 Plus” projects--the most outstanding charitable projects in the Catholic world selected in connection with the Vatican’s 1999 Year of Charity.

“Los Angeles looks to be the area where the first actual site under this collaborative effort would be launched,” said Barbara Stephenson of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, a sponsoring organization and the largest private funder of self-help projects for the poor.

The initiative is also being sponsored by the Catholic Health Assn. of the United States, the national leadership organization for Catholic-sponsored facilities. Catholic Charities USA, a network of 1,400 local agencies serving 12 million people annually, is collaborating in the project.

PEOPLE

Director Arthur Hiller has received the Lifetime of Broad Service Award from the Jewish Federation for humanitarian work on behalf of Soviet Jews. Hiller (“Love Story,” “The Out-of-Towners”) and his wife smuggled Jewish goods into the Soviet Union in the 1970s and participated in the San Francisco protest march that brought the plight of Soviet Jewry to public attention. Hiller will be honored Tuesday with eight others at Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel in Westwood.

* Jan McDougall has been appointed chief operations officer of the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles. McDougall, raised in Africa as the daughter of missionary parents, served in rural South Africa and Swaziland for 11 years as a licensed vocational nurse. She joined the mission in 1982 and has developed programs for housing, addiction recovery and family life. She is the first woman to head operations in the mission’s 107-year history.

CYBERFAITH

The Jewish Reform movement has established clickonJudaism, a World Wide Web site aimed at attracting Generation X members. Rabbis, cantors, artists, educators and scholars offer on the site such features as “Confessions of a Hebrew School Dropout” and “Women’s Life Cycle Rituals.” The project, which offers a liberal viewpoint, is funded by the Feld Family Foundation. The address is https://clickonJudaism.org.

* The Seventh-day Adventist Church has launched NeXt Millennium, a global satellite Bible seminar available via Internet or video. The broadcast is downlinked at more than 4,600 sites on six continents, using the services of 39 translators. Recent topics have included an exploration of creation and the Ten Commandments. Go to https://www.net98.org

GRANTS

The Pew Charitable Trusts have bequeathed $1.5 million to a new graduate program to study the relationship between the Christian faith and politics. The Civitas Program in Faith and Public Affairs is designed to prepare evangelical Christian scholars for leadership positions in academic, government and public policy fields. The program will admit 12 students annually to participate in a five-week summer institute and four-month research fellowship at either the Brookings Institution or the American Enterprise Institute.

* Loyola Marymount University has been granted $7 million, the third-largest donation in its history, by the estate of the late Harry and Kathleen Daum. The bequest will be used for student financial aid and construction and renovation projects. Daum, a 1938 graduate, sold and leased retail mall space in Montana, Alaska and Idaho.

EVENTS

Jewish perspectives on religion and ecology will be featured in a panel discussion, “What Have We Done With the Garden?” on Thursday from 9:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, 9876 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills. Featured speakers include Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, Gail Ruderman Feuer of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Mark X. Jacobs of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life and Xandra Kayden of the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles. The discussion is sponsored by the Jewish Federation’s Women’s Conference. Contact (323) 761-8313.

* Christian author Joe Dallas will speak about homosexuality and religion in a dinner lecture, “When Homosexuality Hits Home,” Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. at Glenkirk Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, 1700 E. Palopinto in Glendora. The event is sponsored by Living Stones Ministries. Contact (909) 946-2745.

* Protestant theologian John B. Cobb Jr. will speak on interfaith dialogue, “Shall We Emphasize Similarities or Differences?” Sunday at 3 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 1637 Butler Ave. in West Los Angeles. Cobb, professor emeritus at the Claremont School of Theology, has written more than 25 books. Contact (310) 473-1285.

* Award-winning author Richard Paul Evans will speak about his best-selling novel, “The Christmas Box,” and Mormon principles associated with it Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1101 N. Central Ave. in Glendale. The 1995 bestseller tells the story of parental love and the true meaning of Christmas. Contact (818) 243-9993.

* A free family festival will cap a weeklong celebration of Yiddish culture Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Watercourt at California Plaza, 350 S. Grand Ave. in Los Angeles. The festival will feature music, crafts, food, storytelling and Yiddish lessons. The festival will also feature a shtetl wedding with giant puppets. Contact (310) 315-2889.

* MOVIEGUIDE editor Ted Baehr will speak on how the media influences children in “The Media-Wise Family” seminar Sunday at Community Presbyterian Church in Ventura. Contact (805) 648-2737.

* Bob Ralston, longtime musician for the Lawrence Welk TV show, and vocalist Tom Cooper will present a concert featuring Frank Sinatra favorites Sunday at 1 p.m. at Founder’s Church of Religious Science, 3281 W. 6th St. in Los Angeles. Suggested donation is $5. Contact (213) 388-9733.

Notices may be mailed for consideration to Southern California File, c/o Nona Yates, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or by fax to Nona Yates, Southern California File at (213) 237-4712. Items should arrive two to three weeks before the event and should include pertinent details about the people and organizations with address, phone number, date and time.