Earning a new path

When Hevan Walton graduated from Hoover High School, she had little work experience and didn’t quite know what to do next.

She got a job at the Verdugo Jobs Center, and now, three years later, 21-year-old Walton says she’s ready to forge her future when she starts Glendale Community College in the fall.

“Before I got this job, I didn’t know anything about résumés or looking for jobs,” she said. “But just from helping people at the center, I’ve learned so much.”

Walton was one of several dozen youth workers honored at the Glendale Youth Alliance’s annual awards luncheon Wednesday at the Anoush Banquet Hall in Glendale.

The event also honored business and community supporters of the organization, which was founded in 1993 to provide employment opportunities for local at-risk youth ages 14 through 24.

This past year, the program helped more than 450 youth find work experience, including 240 participants involved in the Summer Youth Employment Program, which benefited from federal stimulus funding.

Mayor Frank Quintero commended the 50 participants who had worked to remove overgrown brush from local hillsides as a fire prevention measure.

“You’ve provided a public service for the city,” he said.

Attendees lauded the youth for making the effort to enter the workforce armed with new job skills.

“It’s up to us, in our youth, to decide what opportunities we want to take advantage of,” said Master of Ceremonies Eric Morago, a poet who works with at-risk youth.

Souseh Babomian, 24, a project coordinator with Integral Engineering Services, was once a Glendale Youth Alliance worker herself.

So when she got a promotion at work and was able to hire an assistant, she said she decided to find one through the same program that helped prepare her for her own job. “I came back to my roots,” she said.

Babomian said the program is as beneficial for the companies who hire the workers as for the youth themselves because some of the jobs are subsidized by the organization.

Greta Gyodakyan, 24, was honored as Worker of the Year through the Hospitality Training Program, which provides job training and work experience for youth ages 17 through 24 interested in jobs in the service sector.

Gyodakyan, was placed in a job with a local flower shop and recently secured an hourly job with the city at the Verdugo Jobs Center.

She said the program taught her skills that helped her land a job, even in the difficult economy.

“I learned that customer service is the first priority,” she said.

Her co-worker, Walton, also credited her time with the Glendale Youth Alliance as a valuable experience.

“When I look for a job, I think I’ll be prepared,” she said.

THE WINNERS

WORKER OF THE SUMMER AWARDS

Summer Brush Program

Nycole Marzucco; Leo Sarkissian Arno Hovekian; Ruben Mkrtchyan ;Ramero Medina

SUMMER YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM

Aden Ghazari; Minely Taliban; Selin Eskandary; Jesse Sanchez; Ashley Bennett; Vana Akhverdyan; Moses Alcantara; Tarek Rady; David Falcon; Arvin Nazari-Masihi

WORKERS OF THE YEAR

Training Employment and Mentoring Program

Isaac Almendra; Kimberly Guardado

Employment Incentive Program

Juan Garcia; Vanis Mardian

HOSPITALITY TRAINING PROGRAM

Greta Gyodakyan; Anna Tsaturyan

GLENDALE RESOURCES FOR EMPLOYMENT & TRAINING

Hevan Walton; Fred Azadian

GLENDALE YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PARTNERSHIP

Eduardo Lopez; Setrak Tfnakjian