Job Fair
(Los Angeles) – Assembly Speaker Karen Bass does not just talk the talk when it comes to helping Californians. She delivers. Hundreds of people suffering through the current economic downturn joined Speaker Bass at a job fair this month in her South Los Angeles district. The event, held at Locke High School, connected the job seekers with dozen of potential employers. Speaker Bass says the job fair is just one of the many ways she’s hoping to take the policies and programs developed by her and other Assembly Democrats in the State Capitol and produce tangible results for the people in their communities.
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Background
The South LA Clergy Alliance asked and Speaker Karen Bass answered by hosting a job fair that was attended by more than 670 on Saturday, November 15, 2008 at Locke High School. The event was co-sponsored with Community Coalition to address the need to provide South Los Angeles residents of all ages the opportunity to secure employment that provides a living wage. Additionally, Speaker Karen Bass and Community Coalition are committed to working to provide access to training programs that will prepare South Los Angeles residents to be a viable segment of the employment market in traditionally under-represented professions such as architecture, construction, and engineering. At the same time, both organizations also want to see South Los Angeles well represented in the emerging green technologies industry that is developing as we speak.
The event at Locke High School was the first step in bringing that vision into a tangible reality. A number of employers from the public and private sectors were represented and were recruiting individuals to fill current openings. The skilled trade unions were also recruiting experienced persons as well as those interested in apprenticeship programs to pursue careers in ironworking, electrical, building trades, pipe fitting, sprinkler fitting, painting, and stage/theatrical technologies. The newly formed Architectural, Construction, and Engineering (ACE) Academy based at Locke High School hopes to be the conduit to ensuring that South Los Angeles youth are trained and prepared to enter careers in these professions at the completion of high school or college.
The participating exhibitors and community partners assembled at the event demonstrated the collective power of teamwork. Some of the community voices who were represented at the job fair in addition to Speaker Bass included Marqueece Harris Dawson, Executive Director of Community Coalition; Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; Steve Barr, Founder and Chairman of Green Dot Public Schools, and Rev. John Berry on behalf of South Los Angeles Baptist Church.
Sam Anguiano, a current Senior at Locke High School, is passionate about sharing the word about the ACE Academy with other students despite his inability to participate in the program. “I want students to know that this program is here to give them the chance to have good jobs and to do more with their lives.”
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