BUSINESS WATCH:Work ethic alters young

NEWPORT BEACH — Someday, Charlie Ramirez hopes to be a firefighter or police officer. That’s a way in the future, though. Right now, the Costa Mesa resident is learning some other basic skills — like operating a cash register, counting change and, most importantly, saving money.

Charlie, 13, is one of the youths participating in this year’s Job Club, an annual summer program put on by the Westside community organization Mika. For six weeks in July and August, 12- and 13-year-olds learn the ropes of employment at a number of businesses around town, from tiny shops on the Balboa Peninsula to Vanguard University and the Los Angeles Times.

On Thursday, Charlie joined a small group of students at Mifflin’s Taffy, a candy store a few blocks down from the Balboa Ferry. He had joined the Job Club the year before and was keen on doing it again.

“It teaches you, when you grow up, how to have a good job and stuff,” he said.

Mika, a Christian nonprofit that operates in a number of Westside neighborhoods, introduced the Job Club two years ago. Students apply for the program and go through an interview process to get in; once chosen, they undergo classroom training on Monday, work at businesses Tuesday through Thursday and take field trips to John Wayne Airport, the Ayres Hotel and other large-scale workplaces. For each day at work in the classroom or outside, participants earn $11.

Crissy Brooks, Mika’s executive director, said the club was a formative experience for many.

“It’s actually been one of our fastest changes that we’ve seen in kids,” she said. “A couple of guys last year would go to work with their dads on Saturday and both their dads commented to us, ‘It used to be I had to drag him out of bed. I had to talk him into working. Now he’s up already and waiting for me.’”

Karen Urbina, who helped serve customers at New York Style Pizza in Balboa on Thursday, said work ethic was one of the main topics covered during her interview.

“They ask you if you have an attitude,” Karen, 13, said.

Her response?

“It depends. I have an attitude if they get me mad.”