P.O.W.E.R.
Collaborative Network
Meeting
Summary
February 2005
Before sharing the information garnered from the
February 2005 P.O.W.E.R. Collaborative Network (PCN) meeting, we want to give a very
special thank you to Lavonté Jackson and the entire Goodwill
Industries-Long Beach staff for serving as our meeting hosts. Ms. Jackson took extra resources
and care by providing some wonderful desserts, along with the exceptionally
catered “light” breakfast. We wish
to thank Kenisha Humphrey and Melinda Parks for their
fine support and coordination of the meeting. Likewise, we extend our sincere
appreciation to Ms. Jackson’s supervisor Ben Espatia, for having
the vision to support the efforts of the PCN.
And
once again we applaud the fine work of the Long Beach Job Corps and the
young students for their fine work with their Culinary Arts presentation. They were commissioned as caterers by
Goodwill Industries to provide the Grand breakfast that everyone
genuinely enjoyed.
The Goodwill
Industries-Long Beach and South Bay provided a splendid video on the large
variety of services that it provides to the community. The Long Beach and South Bay Goodwill
Industries was established in 1929 in
response to the great depression, which brought an increased focus not only to
the thousands of people out of work but to people with disabilities as
well. The PCN meeting
took place in their main
headquarter facility located at 800 West
Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach, CA, that houses the very clean administrative
offices, training programs, processing operations, transportation fleet,
manufacturing and contract services, temporary employment services, sign
language interpreting services and a retail boutique.
Should you want to contact Lavonté Jackson about the services Goodwill Industries can
provide to your clientele, her number is (562)
728-4581.
We
were very pleased to receive an immense amount of information from Marsene
Brown, Specialist with the City of Long Beach Workforce Development
Bureau. Ms. Brown provided
information on the City’s Construction Apprenticeship Pathways (CAP)
Program. It is a free 10-week
training on refinery safety, hazardous waste operation, emergency response,
career development guidance, and much more. Young Adults (18-24 years) are
encouraged to apply. We want to
thank Ray
Worden,
Manager, Workforce Development Bureau for coordinating the presence
of Ms.
Brown.
There are a number of
other opportunities in the City with various employers, and the City workforce
Development Bureau offers, such as a New Opportunities Workers Program for
people unemployed 15 out of the last 26 weeks. Ms. Brown encourages the
PCN to visit the City of Long Beach and go the Workforce
Development Department’s web site at www.ci.long-beach.ca.us/cd/workforce/workshops_training_opportunities.asp.
The City of Long Beach
provides a Virtual One-Stop that is user-friendly and designed to help job
searches with resumes, training, career options, and other workforce
services. Anyone wanting to speak
with Ms. Brown can reach her at (562) 570-3726.
Donnicus
Cook,
CEO of Broad Spectrum, shared a tremendous amount free tax assistance that his
organization has teamed with the County of Los Angeles to provide to the
citizenry of our community. His
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program has established over 26 sites available
for tax preparation and filing.
What is astonishing is the level service that they provide is at 100%
comparable to Jackson Hewitt or H & R Block tax preparation services, except
that all of the services provided by Broad Spectrum are free to the client.
Broad Spectrum is coordinating trained community
volunteers that help all clients with special credits, such as Earned Income Tax
Credit (EITC), Child Tax Credit, and Credit for the Elderly for which you may
qualify. In addition to free tax return preparation assistance, they offer free
electronic filing (e-filing). Individuals taking advantage of the e-file program
will receive their refunds in half the time compared to returns filed on paper –
even faster if you have your refund deposited directly into your bank
account. And there is zero interest
applied to the process.
Mr. Cook
provided a great deal of information and welcomes all questions. He emphasized that his program although
meets the April 15, 2005 federal filing requirements, their sites will operate
through August 15, 2005, in order to meet extension filers. The sites are throughout many cities
including Los Angeles, Long Beach, Inglewood, Gardena, and Compton. Their sites have partnered with a number
of major banks including, but not limited to Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and
Union Bank.
Mr. Cook
offered other programs for those wanting to become a Volunteer Income Tax
Assistant, and if so, should contact his office. Also, anyone wanting to coordinate an
on-site, or attend, a financial literacy seminar, can feel free to contact Broad
Spectrum to meet that need as well.
Donnicus Cook and the Broad Spectrum staff can be reached at (310)
693-6505.
Special thanks goes to Frank Melli,
Micro-enterprise Program Coordinator for JobStarts, Inc., who made an
excellent abbreviated presentation to fill-in for our business presenter. JobStarts is offering free
business design and management workshops including Accounting, Business
Planning, Taxes, Licensing, Insurance, Business Law, Finance, Access to Capital,
Marketing, and Access to Market.
Mr. Melli
emphasized that like Broad Spectrum they offer free Individual Development
Account (IDA) assistance at their facilities. They are focused on empowering
individuals to improve their well being so that they can then contribute to the
overall revitalization of the community.
All seminars and training services have the same goal to teach the skills
that lead to financial security and self-sufficiency.
JobStarts
focuses its outreach to the residents of South Los Angeles, the unemployed, the
under-employed, dislocated workers, ex-offenders, veterans, women, disabled, and
TANF recipients. Anyone wishing to
contact JobStarts can call Frank Melli at (323) 290-6626, or email
fmelli@jobstarts.org
A
special invitation was shared from Antoinette Anderson regarding an ABC7
Television Special about the Los Angeles Urban League and it’s
Leadership
ABC7 television special “A
Legacy of Leadership” highlighting the Los Angeles Urban League, its’ impact and
leadership over the past 35 years will be broadcast 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.,
Saturday, March 12, 2005.
Program host is Sidney Poitier, featuring remarks
from Marc Morial, Vernon Jordan, Nancy Wilson, Jesse Jackson, Tavis Smiley,
William Bratton, Julian Bond, Suzanne de Passe, and many
others.
I
urge you, your families, friends and neighbors to watch the television
special. Your assistance will also
be greatly appreciated if you help spread the word, in order that we can
generate a large viewing audience.
If you have any questions you can contact Ms. Anderson at (323) 600-1106,
ext 250.
The next PCN meeting is
Monday, March 7, 2005 at the Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Campus, Building 200,
Conference Rooms B&C, 16111 Plummer St. , North Hills, Ca. 91343. Our hosts are Phyllis Jasso and Pat
Lamparello, M.E. (818)
895.9536, from the Veteran’s
Administration (WLA & Valley) Veterans Industries.
[Directions:
Take
the 405 freeway going north. Get off at Nordoff Street. Turn left going West on
Nordoff Street. Get into the far right lane. Turn right on Haskell Street.
Take Haskell Street going north. From Haskell Street, turn left onto Plummer
Street. You will enter our campus from Plummer Street. Parking is provided in the lot
adjacent to Building
1.]
Present at the February PCN
were:
Antoinette Anderson, Los Angeles Urban
League
Barb
Banek, Los Angeles Community Development Commission
Ben
Espatia, Goodwill Industries Long Beach and South Bay
Billy Williams, Business Training
Schools
Carolyn Hines, Girl Scout Council of Long
Beach
Cindy Schmidt, CitiBank
Dean
Jones, Southland Business Development Partnership
Deborah Deras, Department of
Rehabilitation
Donnicus Cook, Broad Spectrum
Dwayne Price, F.A.M.E Renaissance
Program
Eileen Arthur, West Angeles, CDC
Empowerment
Elainea Robbins, Los Angeles Urban
League
Elora Ragland, Broad Spectrum
Eric
King, West Angeles CDC Empowerment
Frank Melli, JobStarts, Inc.
Gary
Wright, Los Angeles Office of Education GAIN/Grow Division
James Jones, Gangsters for
Christ
Janet Welch, West Angeles, CDC
empowerment
Jill
Eastman, Los Angeles County Office of Education
Josie Starling, Wings of Refuge
Joy
Tsuhako, US Social Security Administration
Kenisha Humphrey, Goodwill Industries-Long Beach and
South Bay
Lavonté
Jackson, Goodwill Industries-Long Beach
and South Bay
Marsene Brown, Long Beach Workforce
Development
Melinda Parks, Goodwill Industries-Long Beach and
South Bay
Patricia Pascua, Ami/Able Program,
UCLA
Phyllis Mack, Association of Better Living and
Education (ABLE)
Portia Smith, State of CA Employment Development
Department, Crenshaw Office
Reggie Garnett, Business Training
Schools
Reginald Allen, Compton WorkSource
CareerLink
Sergio Velazquez, County of Los Angeles, DPSS, Grow
Program
Sharon Rochelle, County of LA, DPSS Grow
Program
Sharron Eason, Avalon Carver
Sithor Lytle, County of LA, DPSS, GAIN
Services
Stephen Wilson, Swilson
Consulting
Steven Sanders, Compton Community College,
CalWorks
Toni
Bawck, Long Beach Job Corps
Vernell Taylor, Union Bank of
California
Vu
Hien, Pasadena GROW