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Youth Workforce Services

In 2004, Para Los Niños announced the inauguration of our Youth Workforce Services Department (YWS). YWS extends our services to teens and young adults seeking academic encouragement and employment skills training as they prepare for the working world.

Para Los Niños is the lead agency in a network of reputable youth service providers who are committed to supporting youth as they mature and gain experience. Funded by a Workforce Investment Act (WIA) grant through the City of Los Angeles, this network – the Power of One East LA Youth Workforce Services – includes partners: Para Los Niños, Goodwill Industries, El Centro de Ayuda, The Escalera Visionaries Program at Multicultural Access Health Education Center, East Los Angeles Skill Center, Cal State Univ. Los Angeles, Los Angeles Conservation Corps, and Girls Today, Women Tomorrow.

Together, the Power of One network enrolls 260 new low-income, high-risk participants (ages 14 to 21) each year, serving as many as 500 youth with the highest quality supportive services available in Los Angeles.

Assigned a Career Advisor, each youth develops goals and activities which build off of their strengths and abilities and which guide them in the direction of their dreams.

Services available to YWS youth are:

• Career exploration and personalized guidance
• Employment and work readiness training
• Paid and unpaid work experience, including internships, apprenticeships, 
  and job shadowing
• Development and improvement of skills needed to get and keep a job
• Training through local skill or occupational centers
• Job search and application assistance for older youth
• College preparation – assistance with selection and applications
• Assistance with applying for college financial aid
• Individual and group counseling through El Centro de Ayuda
• Leadership development through Power of One Youth Advisory Council
• Computer skills training
• Individualized Tutoring
• Access to Alternative High School services, diploma programs, and GED
  completion

Please call Youth Workforce Services for information, and to make referrals, at 213.623.8446 ext. 407. Corporations interested in participating in our internship program, please contact Director of Youth Workforce Services, Jorge Orozco at jorozco@paralosninos.org.

For more details about Services available to youth through W.I.A., please visit http://www.lacity.org/wib/