A Universal Effort Helps East L.A. Kids

Universal Studio Tours had the jobs. Two East Los Angeles County schools had the kids that needed them--desperately. How to get them together?

“We’re talking about gang kids, underprivileged kids, kids who normally spend their summer on the street corner,” said Mike Fischer, a coordinator for L. A. County’s Regional Occupational Program (ROP). “These kids didn’t have the transportation to get to and from work, they didn’t have the skills to get through the screening process; we knew our kids couldn’t compete (for these jobs) based on their appearance.” (They couldn’t comply with any company’s dress code.)

In spite of all that, Fisher was determined to unite the jobs with the kids.

With the support of colleagues Bill Whitemore, coordinator of Vocational Educational for the Montebello Unified School district, Diane Lucas, his counterpart for the Lynwood Unified School District, Dan Miller, ROP coordinator for Job placement; and ROP director, Clell Hoffman, Fisher designed a program that would prepare students for job interviews.

That meant teaching 200 students from Bell Gardens High and 200 from Lynwood High how to dress appropriately, how to speak, and most importantly, Fisher said, how to think of themselves as capable and worthy of employment.

Fisher called Universal with his idea. Carole Fisher, the employment coordinator for Universal Tours at the time (no relation) and Tony Caputo, director of employee relations, were immediately supportive. Caputo, “being someone from Chicago who didn’t grow up wealthy, he empathized with the kids,” Fisher said. “He ran interference and bent the rules a little to make sure these kids would get job interviews.”

When the four-week training program was over, 250 teen-agers were hired by Universal as ticket sellers, crowd controllers, park attendants, food service workers and sales clerks at $4 and hour and above.

Lucas and Whitemore arranged for district school buses to pick the students up in front of their high school, take them to Universal, then return them to the school each work day. The kids could never have participated otherwise, said Fisher. They couldn’t afford cars or the car insurance to drive to work every day.

“We’re getting wonderful reports from the field about the kids,” said Fisher of Universal.

“This was a huge effort,” said Fisher the ROP coordinator, “and the kids have to be given a lot a credit, they were very courageous.”

Earrings came out of their ears, hair was cut and the blue, yellow and green colors “turned normal” Fisher said. “The kids did all this because they wanted (these jobs) so badly.”

The money they earn isn’t just going in their pocket, he said. A lot of them are putting food on the table for their families. Many of the Central American refugees have already saved enough for their families to hire a lawyer and apply for amnesty, he added.