Center Helps Put Deaf to Work

Goodwill Industries’ job training and placement center looks like any other agency helping people move into the work force.

It has a computer training lab, a staff of counselors and Internet access for job seekers to take their search online.

What sets the center apart from other training and placement centers is its clientele and staff, almost all of whom are hearing impaired.

In the two years since it opened, Goodwill’s Deaf Employment and Community Center has proved so popular among clients that officials decided to expand its services and move from its cramped quarters in Panorama City to larger digs on Van Nuys Boulevard.

Community leaders, advocates for the deaf and past graduates will be among the invited guests Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the grand opening celebration to be held in honor of National Deaf Awareness Week.

“It is truly a center by and for the deaf, since most of our staff are deaf or hard of hearing, myself included,” said Jenna F. Beacom, the center’s deaf services coordinator, in a written statement.

“In addition to offering employment assistance, a goal of this center is to provide a meeting place for the deaf community, something which is really needed in the San Fernando Valley,” she said.

The center is open free of charge to all hearing-impaired people in northern Los Angeles County, officials said, although most job seekers referred from the state Department of Rehabilitation come from the Valley.

About 750,000 residents of Los Angeles County are hearing impaired. They are among the more than 2 million statewide living with complete or partial hearing loss, according to the Greater Los Angeles Council on Deafness Inc., a nonprofit advocacy group.

When new clients arrive at the Valley center, they are screened to determine their level of education and job skills, officials said.

Clients who have never held a job before and are struggling to overcome personal or financial problems are placed in the center’s General Employability Skills program. There, they learn job-interview and time-management skills and tips on workplace appearance and etiquette.

Others are placed in the Office of Applications Training to learn job skills, including computer software programs.

Those who already have skills or are looking for a better position are assigned to a job-placement counselor.

Most clients graduate from the center in six months to one year, officials said. Some have been hired in the private sector as administrative assistants or medical billing clerks. Others have gone on to work with other hearing-impaired people through various social service agencies.

“A deaf person is just as able as any other person to do a job,” said Carri Richardson, the center’s job developer and interpreter. “The whole mission of the program is to get deaf clientele working.”

The Goodwill Industries Deaf Employment and Community Center is at 6850 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys, and can be reached at (818) 376-1349.

” It is truly a center by and for the deaf, since most of our staff are deaf or hard of hearing, myself included. “