Thousands of hopefuls attend South LA job fair
More than 10,000 people flocked to the Crenshaw Christian Center with hopes of finding a job. Today’s job fair in South LA is the fifth and final stop of the “For the People” national jobs initiative tour. The event, which took place from 9 am to 5 pm, was organized by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), hosted by Congresswoman Maxine Waters and co-hosted by Reps. Laura Richardson and Karen Bass.
Applicants lined up as early as 3 am, aiming to get a head start on any available jobs. Corey Willis, who was laid off in July, arrived at 8 am to find a traffic jam on Vermont Ave. as people tried to find their way into the center. “It was crazy. There were all these cars backed up. When I got in, I heard people saying they had been in line since 3 am.”
Job seekers were given a pep talk by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. Waters, who offered tips for successful job hunting, before being led out to the center’s parking lot where multiple tents had been set up for employers to talk to prospective employees.
Faye Washington, unemployed the past four years, hopes to find a job.
“Coming and seeing all these people here gives you a sense of how many unemployed people there are in Los Angeles,” says Fae Washington, an accountant who has been unemployed for almost four years. “Unfortunately, there’s a lot of people out of work. I don’t believe even with all these employers here they can give a job to everyone here. And that’s sad.” She says she has gone to many job fairs during the past four years, but this is the biggest one she’s ever been to. Even so, she’s not very hopeful she’ll land a job here. “I’m job fair’ed out,” she exclaims. Washington, like many others at the fair, is frustrated at the lack of opportunities. “It’s the first time in my entire life I don’t have a full time job. This economy is killing the middle class.”
Event organizers say more than 170 employers such as Fry’s, Vons, Delta Airlines and Home Depot, to name a few, took part in the job fair. Only employers that had immediate job openings were allowed to participate. Many people waited patiently to speak to company representatives hoping to secure actual interviews, but were upset to find out they were telling people to go online to fill out applications.
Corey Willis was expecting to at least get a job interview at the job fair.
“The bottom line is we need a job,” says Willis. “And we’re not getting them. We’re just getting how to apply to the jobs.”
CBC spokeswoman Stephanie Young points out the fair “is an opportunity to connect with people face to face. They can tell people whether they qualify for a job. There is good in this even if you have to go to a website.”
Other “For the People” job fairs were previously held in Cleveland, Detroit, Atlanta and Miami.
Kitchen Table Summit asks for jobs
Some 200 residents gathered around mock kitchen tables in South Los Angeles to challenge Congressman Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) to be a voice for jobs in the upcoming budget negotiations. Becerra is one of 12 members appointed to the committee charged with reducing the federal budget deficit over the next ten years. 
The summit was organized by Good Jobs LA which says the debate in Washington is dominated by budget cuts and protecting tax breaks for corporations.
“Big corporations and the rich might be out of the recession but we’re still seeing the devastation of foreclosures, bankruptcies and layoffs in our communities,” said Jonetta Rivers, an Inglewood resident who lost her job as a real estate agent when the housing market crashed and now relies on public assistance to pay her rent. “Congressman Becerra needs to remember our voices as he negotiates with the ‘super-committee” – real people who are desperate for good jobs – not just the big corporations and Wall Street investors who caused this mess.”
Before the summit, residents marched to an Exxon Mobil station at W. Adams Boulevard and South Figueroa. Exxon Mobil is one of the companies that has benefited from corporate tax loopholes and has fought efforts by Senate Democrats to raise oil and gas taxes by about $2 billion a year for 10 years.
According to Good Jobs LA’s Web site, “ExxonMobil earned nearly $10.6 billion the first quarter of 2011, which means the company made $116 million a day. One week of profits could create more than 2000 green jobs, save childcare for 30,000 Californian children, or save the jobs of thousands of teachers by ending the entire LA Unified School District Deficit.”
Good Jobs LA claims that although corporations are sitting on almost $2 trillion in cash, they are not investing in jobs. One in four workers in Los Angeles County is unemployed or under employed, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
Later on Tuesday, Rep. Becerra hosted a “coffee” at the New World Open Academy in Koreatown, which, according to Patch.com drew more than 100 constituents on Tuesday evening, many of whom asked him to continue his support of Medicare and Social Security.
Inner city youth return from camping adventure
Over 100 inner city youth from Council District 10 participated in this year’s summer camping trip. This is the fifth year that Councilmember Herb Wesson partners with the gang intervention organization Project SAVE, Community Build, Inc., and the Department of Recreation and Parks in making this trip possible for the community’s youth.
This year’s 3-day/2-night camping adventure took place in Griffith Park. The Department of Recreation and Park’s Camp Hollywoodland was transformed into “Camp Wesson” on
August 23, 24, and 25, allowing the kids to leave the city environment and spend time in the great outdoors. The children participated in a series of activities including swimming, rope and wall climbing, archery, astronomy, yoga, and arts and crafts.
In a statement, Councilman Wesson, who also participated in some of the trip’s events, pointed out “this was a totally new experience for most of these kids. We got them out of their day-to-day environment and into the fresh air where they can make new friends and learn to relate to others from different races and backgrounds.”
Funded by the City of Los Angeles, Project SAVE was founded by Councilmember Wesson and receives administrative support from Community Build, Inc. Project SAVE also offers “safe passage” programs at Dorsey and Hamilton High Schools, and Cienega and Hillcrest Elementary Schools.
Information and photos provided by Councilman Wesson’s office.
South LA students encouraged to become leaders
by Jacob Hay, Good Jobs LA
More than 230 students from South LA neighborhoods gathered for a two-day youth leadership summit last weekend at UCLA. The event, put on by Good Jobs LA and IDEAS at UCLA, sought to educate and mobilize today’s youth to be tomorrow’s leaders.
“This is a space for South LA students to learn about the issues impacting their communities and to better understand themselves and their roles in bringing change,” said Nayra Pacheco, one of ten Good Jobs LA interns who organized the summit. “Our communities need leadership and the best place to start is with young people.”
Workshops, developed based on conversations with local students over the past months, were geared towards providing young people with the tools they need to become leaders. Topics included job readiness, college preparation, community activism and organizing, political action, artistic expression, environmental justice, understanding identity issues and the role of corporate America in creating economic inequality.
In workshops on college preparation, students learned how to apply to college, about the resources available to help families pay for school and how a college degree is crucial to economic upward mobility. Students practiced interview skills and learned how to write a resume and cover letter in job preparation workshops. In workshops on politics and community organizing, students were taught skills on how to be leaders by building a community network, communicating persuasively and working with federal, state and local elected officials to bring positive change to their communities.
 Students Amber McKenzie and Cynthia Hernandez, who is quoted in the story. |
“Right now money is being taken from our schools to build jails. There’s a liquor stores on every corner where there should be libraries and parks,” said Cynthia Hernandez, a student at Locke Tech High School. “We can stop that. Putting money into our communities inspires us and gives students the tools to go to college, have a better life and become leaders who can fight for improvements for the next generation of students.”
Summit organizers provided transportation and healthy meals on both days of the event, despite a student turnout that far exceeded expectations. Each day’s session was more than eight hours long and involved multiple workshops, group activities and breakout sessions.
After the youth summit, Good Jobs LA will continue engaging young people on being leaders in their communities.
Good Jobs LA is coalition of community members and organizations committed to holding wealthy corporations accountable for contributing their fair share to our economic recovery and calling for investments in struggling communities to create good jobs.
Metro brings artists to local libraries
In an effort to engage the community and to showcase the distinctive character of neighborhoods and destinations served by Metro, the transportation agency commissioned several Los Angeles artists to create original artworks. The “Through the Eyes of Artists” poster series can be seen throughout the Metro system, including on trains, buses, stations and other locations. And now, it’s arriving at local libraries, as part of an “artists in conversation” art salon series.
The first event will feature “Compton” by local artist Elliott Pinkney. It will take place September 13, at 10 a.m. at the Compton Library on Tuesday, located on 240 West Compton Blvd.
 Compton artist Elliott Pinkney |
Pinkney, an accomplished artist, muralist and sculptor who lives and works in Compton, will talk about his technique and inspiration for the “Compton” poster. He depicts Compton City as a brilliant array of colors, images, icons and signage that highlight the hidden treasures. He presents Compton as the center of a cultural wheel, booming with color and movement, due to its proximity to four major freeways.
Pinkney will be signing and giving away first edition prints during the library event.
“Compton” is number 23 in the series of posters commissioned by Metro Creative Services, which have won multiple awards. Artist Jane Gillespie Pryor is next, immortalizing the bees of Whittier at the Whittier Public Library on October 6.
Metro Creative Services includes the agency’s art and design excellence programs, which commissions projects by visual artists, using art and design “to create a sense of place, engage transit riders, and improve quality of life throughout Los Angeles County.”
For more information about Metro’s art programs and it’s free docent guided tours, visit metro.net/art or call 213/922-4ART.
Central Area Neighborhood Empowerment Council tackles pressing issues
The hot afternoon sun dropped low over Western Avenue as members of the Central Area Neighborhood Empowerment Council filed into the community room of the Amistad Plaza Apartment.
Fifteen board members were present, along with about a dozen people and presenters from the community. The council meets on the fourth Monday of every month.
Over pizza and hot wings, the council discussed what’s going on in their communities, which spans between Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and Florence Avenue to the north and south, and Vermont Avenue and Arlington Avenue to the east and west. It makes up a thin rectangle that runs west of the 110.
The marathon meeting was over three hours. But no worries, we have your highlights right here!
1. The police department says that the most prevalent crime in the neighborhood is street robberies, specifically “chain snatching.” Chain snatching is what it sounds like – when a person steals jewelry off someone else. Thieves hang around bus stops and main drags, such as Vernon, Vermont and Western. The crime is more prevalent now because of the high price of gold and the struggling economy. If you see anything suspicious, please report it!
2. Water costs are going to rise by approximately $32 per year for a single-family home. Bob Irvin, Director of Systems at the Bureau of Sanitation, gave a presentation explaining that many of the city’s sewers are operating on borrowed time – the average lifespan of a sewer is 80 years, and 30 percent of the city’s sewers are older than that. Irvin said the rise in cost is necessary to ensure quality drinking water is available and no sewers overflow. To drive the point home, he showed pictures of Los Angeles manholes gurgling human waste.
The rise in costs is dependent on how much water you use during peak times. To get tips on how to reduce your water usage, visit www.lacitysan.org.
3. The city is planning to establish an indoor/outdoor sorting facility (read: recycling center) at 5921 S. Western Ave. The announcement was answered by negative feedback from community members who don’t want the project to happen. If you have an opinion, in favor or against, it’s not to late! Contact Keith McCowen at [email protected] with your feedback.
4. Board member and youth representative Michael Martinez is organizing a youth poetry slam for the second weekend of September. The council approved funding for prizes, but it has yet to hammer out the details like a time and place. We’ll let you know the specifics when we get them – until then, get your rhymes ready!
5. Herbert Jones, Principal at the Barack Obama Global Preparatory Academy gave an impassioned plea for better education in South Los Angeles. Jones says disparities in education are keeping down youth south of the 10.
“There’s no such thing as an achievement gap,” said Jones. “There’s a resource gap. We are kept separate through the field of education.”
Jones said that when poor blacks and Latinos aren’t educated in a suffering economy, we will see more crime and violence. He recalled the political climate of South Central before the Watts Riots in 1965 and the Rodney King Uprising in 1992. Now, he says, things are even worse.
“If we don’t use education and bridge this gap, if we as adults don’t stop this political gang banging, if we don’t focus on making every child proficient in reading… and math, our community will pay,” he said. “We are just weeks away, months away from an urban rebellion. I just hope it doesn’t happen until Obama’s second term.”
Expo line trains tested at Exposition
By Walter Melton
On Monday afternoon, an Expo line train was rolled out for a test. The line’s service to Culver City is supposed to start this year.
$50,000 Reward offered to solve hit-and-run case
 Councilwoman Perry announces reward, while Lawrence Brown, the victim’s brother (to her left) listens. |
In a press conference this morning, Councilwoman Jan Perry joined the Los Angeles Police Department’s Central Traffic Division detectives and the brother of Louis Brown to announce a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identification and apprehension of the person or persons responsible for hitting the 61-year old Brown, leaving him severely injured. He is currently undergoing rehabilitation for head trauma that he sustained from the incident.
On June 5, 2011, at approximately 4:20 p.m., Louis Brown was the victim of a hit and run collision on 43rd Street between Central Ave and McKinley Ave. The incident was caught on video by a nearby surveillance camera. The hit-and-run vehicle is tan or brown, possibly a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
LAPD is seeking the community’s assistance in locating the hit and run driver responsible for this collision.
The police are asking anyone with information related to this hit-and-run to contact Central Traffic Detectives at (213) 972-1845. On the weekends and during off-hours, they can contact the 24-hour toll free number at the detective information desk, at 1-877- LAPD-24-7. Anonymous tips can also be left at the 24-hour hotline number. Crime tips can also be reported by cell phone text or web. To send cell phone text tips, text the word “LAPD” and your message to CRIMES (274627). To send web tips, log onto http://www.lapdonline.org and click on “Anonymous Web Tips”.
