Santa Ana : Mall Project May Mean Opportunities for Jobless

Residents will get the chance to fill 500 jobs at the new MainPlace shopping mall if a new jobs program succeeds.

Beginning next week, people staffing the program will distribute more than 8,000 flyers throughout the city, encouraging residents to apply at the county Employment Development Department at 1001 S. Grand Ave. in Santa Ana for jobs created by the $90-million renovation of Santa Ana Fashion Square.

“We had resources to create jobs, and we had resources to train employees but nothing to bring the two together,” said Kathy Lusk, manager of the program, Santa Ana Linkages.

The program is aimed at bringing employers together with Santa Ana’s large labor pool and then offering to train employees, Mayor Dan Young told a press conference Thursday.

The program will use federal and state job-training money already available to the city.

The Santa Ana Economic Development Corp., the Private Industry Council, the nonprofit Technology Exchange Center, the Rancho Santiago Community College District, as well as the city, will provide resources.

Applications will be sorted and passed on to employers, who aren’t obligated to hire the applicants. Although Santa Ana residents are being targeted, applicants don’t have to live in the city to be eligible.

Once workers are hired, the program will offer to train them through Rancho Santiago Community College.

City officials said the May unemployment rate in Santa Ana was about 4%, compared with 3.1% for all of Orange County.