But he says his work is a drop in the bucket, given the need. There is also universal agreement that to turn the area around better education and job training are badly needed. Every person should have access to a quality living wage job or access to the middle class, but that will never happen unless children, young adults are given the tools to compete, which means a strong education system. And the other side of that is that businesses are not going to come to LA unless they have the skilled labor to do it. Right now we re importing skilled labor from other countries because we don t have the educated people in LA to fill those jobs.
Some programs are underway to teach job skills.
The Carpenters Union is helping inner city residents enter the construction trade. The Urban League and Toyota have trained some 400 auto mechanics in a new school erected soon after the riots. But for every step forward there are fears of many steps back. In particular welfare reform will send many in this community in search of jobs that right now don t exist. We ve got welfare reform looming.