Mayor Eric Garcetti and city officials announced today a five-year, $6 million program to help people who traditionally have a difficult time getting hired because of their background or circumstances.
The Los Angeles Regional Initiative for Social Enterprise, or LA:RISE, program will offer assistance to about 500 people who are traditionally rejected by potential employers as the result of various obstacles, such a past incarceration, homelessness, or they are youth disconnected from traditional social and family environments.
Participants will get a chance to work in a temporary job in which they will get experience, attention from a case manager and job-readiness assessments.
They will also get access to “bridge” employers who have committed to hiring people with non-traditional backgrounds and are willing to help the workers succeed.
Additional services and job-related training will also be provided to participants of LA:RISE.
The program is funded by a $6 million grant from the Department of Labor’s Workforce Innovation Fund.
Garcetti said the bridge employer component of the program is “an innovation that promises to provide a particular benefit to those Angelenos who have a history of homelessness.”
“It provides them with more support and training on the job so that they are better able to keep and grow on the job,” he said. “This will result in their being better able to retain and thrive in housing, interrupting the painful and costly cycle of homelessness.”
The program’s launch was also attended by Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles.
Garcetti’s office and the city’s Economic and Workforce Development Department will work with the nonprofit REDF to implement the program.
REDF President Carla Javits said they are committed to fostering more “social enterprise” job environments, a concept in which the human needs in a workplace are prioritized over the profit needs of shareholders.
Javits said this type of job environment is a “proven approach to supporting those facing the greatest barriers to work.”
“These investments reinforce an American ideal that is central to our collective identity and a sense of dignity, hope and belonging — that every person should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination and initiative,” she said.
The potential employers who are partnering with REDF to offer permanent job opportunities to workers include the job placement nonprofit Chrysalis, the Downtown Women’s Center, Homeboy Industries, Goodwill, LA Conservation Corps and Coalition for Responsible Community Development.
Chrysalis CEO Mark Loranger said it has been offering their job placement services for more than 20 years and will do so as a partner with LA:RISE.
“The men and women we serve face multiple barriers to employment,” Loranger said, and their participation in LA:RISE “has the potential to be a game-changer for our clients.”
