Newly redesigned job resource centers will open throughout Los Angeles this summer with shift in focus to training job seekers for growing industries such as healthcare, advanced manufacturing and logistics, city officials said today.
Mayor Eric Garcetti said the revamped WorkSource Centers “will focus on making sure Angelenos are prepared to compete in today’s job market.”
“Our redesigned system will better provide supportive services and access to career pathways to ensure our local workforce is ready for the jobs in L.A.’s top growth industries,” he said.
The city is set to unveil 17 WorkSource Centers starting July 1, according to Jan Perry, general manager of the Economic and Workforce Development Department.
The specific locations of the centers, which will be in areas with especially high poverty and chronic unemployment, will be announced before the program’s launch, officials said.
The new program will “prepare and support adult job seekers in their effort to find employment that will provide a living wage job and career opportunities,” Perry said.
Under the new system, job centers organized around training workers for specific industries will replace centers that traditionally have offered employment listings and resume writing assistance to people living nearby, Perry said.
The new job centers will also provide its services online, she said.
People with disabilities, the homeless, veterans, English language learners, older adult workers and formerly incarcerated individuals or people with prior convictions will also get more attention at the new centers, according to city officials.
The Los Angeles City Council this week signed off on $90 million in contracts to operators to run the WorkSource Centers for the next five years, with annual reviews to renew the contracts.
The funding for the program comes from the federal Workforce Investment Act.
