Grant Saves Program for Displaced Workers

A program for displaced workers that was almost displaced itself has been saved by a $500,000 state grant, officials said Thursday.

The Long Beach Career Transition Center is now able to keep its doors open until June 30 and offer job training and career counseling to a new batch of students: a group of over 50 displaced workers, said Robert Johnson, administrator of the Long Beach Service Delivery Area.

The “center” is actually a grouping of three sites in Irvine, Long Beach and Glendale where hundreds of downsized corporate employees receive free training in computer software design certificate programs. Taught by instructors from Cal State Long Beach, the University of California at Irvine and Cal State Los Angeles, the program has had a 96% placement rate, Johnson said.

When the funding expires at the end of June, administrators of the 2-year-old center said they plan to apply for a new grant.

“While we’re still on the road to recovery, now is not the time to cut back on job training,” said Victoria L. Bradshaw, the director of the state Employment Development Department, which helps oversee the grant money.