Latino families transition from unemployment to work

June 15, 2015 By Leave a Comment


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Araceli Martínez Ortega | La Opinión (text)
Brian Watt | KPCC (audio)
Maya Sugarman | KPCC (photo)

This story is available in Spanish here.

This article was produced for Watts Revisited, a multimedia project launched by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism that explores challenges facing South L.A. as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Watts Riots. Learn more at www.wattsrevisited.com.

David Williams, who works at Homeboy Industries, fills out paperwork to enroll in a seven-week construction course at Los Angeles Trade Tech College on Monday, April 1, 2015. The class is put on by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations in partnership with LATTC. | Photo by Maya Sugarman for KPCC

David Williams, who works at Homeboy Industries, fills out paperwork to enroll in a seven-week construction course at Los Angeles Trade Tech College on Monday, April 1, 2015. The class is put on by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations in partnership with LATTC. | Photo by Maya Sugarman for KPCC

Last September, Abigail Flores arrived heartsick at the WorkSource Center, a work placement agency in South Central Los Angeles. She had spent at least seven months unemployed, depending upon public assistance to support her three young children.

“What I encountered here was beautiful. They helped me in everything. The work that they found for me was at a Dollar Tree shop. Then the hours were decreased. Once again they found me another job in a hamburger restaurant where I made minimum wage,” said Flores, a resident of South Los Angeles and a 34-year-old single mother. Her children are 6, 7, and 14 years old.

At the same time that Flores returned to the labor force, and to be able to provide for her family, the WorkSource Center, located inside LA Trade Tech College at Vernon-Central, began to provide her with training in the hotel industry.

With these new skills, Abigail will be able to make a transition to full-time work with a better salary and benefits. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Education, Featured, Featured Story, South Central LA, Watts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Reviving South LA’s Martin Luther King Hospital

June 1, 2015 By Leave a Comment


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Amen Oyiboke | LA Sentinel

This article was produced for Watts Revisited, a multimedia project launched by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism that explores challenges facing South L.A. as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Watts Riots. Learn more at www.wattsrevisited.com.

A sculpture by artist Lawrence Argent called "Pieces Together" sits outside the entrance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital. | Photo by Amen Oyiboke

A sculpture by artist Lawrence Argent called “Pieces Together” sits outside the entrance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital. | Photo by Amen Oyiboke

On a rainy Christmas Eve in 1988, South Los Angeles native Toni Bazley was on her way home from work when she noticed a mother with two children waiting at a bus stop. “It was close to 10 o’clock and I couldn’t just drive by the family without offering a ride to them. It was Christmas Eve and no one deserved to wait in the rain,” said Bazley. She remembered asking the woman if she wanted a ride home and pulled into the closest gas station to let the small family enter her 1981 Toyota Corolla hatchback.

Bazley continued southbound on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to make a right turn on Vermont. That is when her good deed took the wrong turn. “I got into a hit-and-run accident with a drunk driver on the intersection of Vermont and Florence. The driver slammed into me so hard that my car hit a pole and folded,” said Bazley. The mother and two children were unharmed, but Bazley suffered from head injuries. “I had a pretty huge gash on my forehead that was opening up. So, I had to be rushed to the closest emergency room, which was Martin Luther King hospital.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured, Featured Story, Health Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Reinvigorating empty lots of South LA

May 26, 2015 By Leave a Comment


By

Shawnte Passmore | LA Wave (text)
Gary McCarthy | LA Wave (photo and video)
Kevin Tsukii | Intersections South LA (video)
Deepa Fernandes | KPCC (audio)
Susanica Tam | KPCC (photo)

This article was produced for Watts Revisited, a multimedia project launched by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism that explores challenges facing South L.A. as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Watts Riots. Learn more at www.wattsrevisited.com.

Barbara Stanton stands in front of a rendition of the Wattstar Theatre. | Photo by Gary McCarthy for LA Wave.

Barbara Stanton stands in front of a rendition of the Wattstar Theatre. | Photo by Gary McCarthy for LA Wave

For community stakeholders interested in transforming vacant lots, it may seem easier to clean up blighted areas than to change public opinion about the area of South Los Angeles widely known for its infamous riots. Yet, several community-based organizations are determined to do both.

Barbara J. Stanton grew up in a different kind of Watts, a place that had plenty of stores to shop along 103rd Street and a movie theatre before the riots or as locals call it – Watts Rebellion – broke out Aug. 11, 1965.

After the rioters looted and burned 600 buildings in Watts and neighboring communities, business owners were slow to return, if they did at all. The only movie theatre in town did not return.

For over 20 years, Stanton has been trying to bring a theatre back to the area but with a twist: featuring an educational and job training facility for those wishing to work behind the scenes in the entertainment industry. Her nonprofit organization, Watts Cinema and Education Center (WCEC), expects to hold a ground-breaking ceremony before September in a vacant lot on Graham Avenue next to a Metro Blue Line station. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Development, Featured, Featured Story, Watts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,