Site Links Job Resources
A Los Angeles County coalition of business, educators and government agencies launched a Web site portal Friday to better link job seekers--including welfare recipients--with training, education, social service and employment opportunities.
Two years in the making, the state-funded initiative is part of a massive effort to coordinate a confusing tangle of government, nonprofit and private-sector resources for everything from job training to assistance with child care and transportation for low-income workers.
Dozens of organizations and agencies provide such services, but most job seekers have no idea where to turn for the help they need, said Linda Wong, project director for the state-funded Los Angeles County Regional Workforce Preparation and Economic Development Collaborative.
Similarly, many employers--particularly the region’s small businesses--have had trouble finding qualified applicants for open positions.
The portal, https://www.laworkforce.org, serves both job seekers and employers, directing them to English classes, military careers, resume-writing assistance programs, job interview tips and online training opportunities. Other resources specifically target disabled or older workers. Labor market statistics and candidate listings are also available. A Spanish-language version will be available by the end of the month, Wong said.
The idea may seem simple, but it represents a radical effort to improve communication and coordination in a complex and notoriously fragmented system.
The project--launched in early 1999--was honed after meetings with 46 focus groups composed of welfare recipients, job developers, large employers, small businesses and educators.
“One of the first issues we came across . . . were all these huge barriers to getting information on resources and programs available throughout the county,” Wong said. “If you don’t know the name of the program you need, you have no idea where to go.”
The portal aims to “build a seamless system of information and resources . . . and eliminate overlap and duplication,” she added.
The Los Angeles County collaborative received about $2 million in funding from four state agencies. About $345,000 of that has gone to develop the portal. The other money will be spent to train community organizations on how to use the Internet as an employment resource for clients and other projects.
The state is funding similar efforts to coordinate work-force training with economic development in Ventura County, the Inland Empire, San Joaquin County, the East San Francisco Bay Area and Humboldt County, although those don’t necessarily involve portals.
L.A. County’s collaborative is made up of the California Workers Assistance Program AFL-CIO, the Employment Development Department, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., the Los Angeles County Department of Education, the Los Angeles/Orange County Community Colleges Consortium and the region’s Workforce Investment Boards.
In addition to the Web portal, the collaborative is conducting so-called skills-gap profiles on five local industries to identify what jobs go begging and then better provide the training and education to fill them.
Profiles on the metals and food processing industries have already been completed and one on the apparel sector is underway. The collaborative also is researching the health-care industry as a result of Proposition 36, the voter-approved initiative to channel first-time substance abuse offenders into rehabilitation instead of the criminal justice system.
The initiative is expected to lead to an increased demand for rehabilitation workers such as counselors and social workers. Many ex-addicts choose such professions, so linking them with the proper training and education could provide a crucial source of employment, Wong said.
The collaborative will undertake a study on the electronics industry, although Wong said it may not be completed by the end of the three-year state grant period.
