NAACP Offers Free Job Skills Workshops

The NAACP is offering another set of free workshops, beginning this week, to teach job skills to unemployed residents.

The training program, which started in early August, will include seminars for the next three Wednesday evenings and next two Saturday mornings.

The Valley branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People sponsors the Education to Employment 2000 courses. Program instructors also refer students to adult education sites for further instruction.

In the future, the NAACP hopes to expand the workshops to assist small-business owners to show them how to hire students from adult education programs. Another goal is to teach businesses how to take advantage of government subsidies available to help pay such recruits, said Rev. Zedar E. Broadous, president of the local NAACP branch.

Broadous called this potential outreach to employers “the next step” for the Education to Employment 2000 program.

“There’s a whole lot of different programs out there that business owners aren’t aware of,” he said. “If we do all this together it will help some folks.”

Education to Employment 2000 instructors currently teach resume writing and office skills to mostly low-income and minority adults.

Instructors often refer participants to adult education sites that include the West Valley Occupational Center in Woodland Hills, the Valley Economic Development Center of Sherman Oaks, the One Stop Centers at Van Nuys and Canoga Park, and Mission College in Sylmar.

The next Wednesday workshops will meet from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.; the Saturday workshops will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. More classes are scheduled for Sept. 16, 19 and 23. Child care is available.

For more information and locations and to preregister, call (818) 899-4357.