Long Beach Offers Job Support To Residents Affected By Southern California Wildfires

LONG BEACH, CA — In the wake of the deadly Southern California wildfires earlier this year, Long Beach is offering residents job support, city officials announced.

The Long Beach Department of Economic Development and Opportunity’s newly launched initiative aims to assist job seekers looking to start anew in Long Beach with “paid career opportunities and financial assistance,” the city said.

“By providing impacted residents with paid work experience and access to valuable training, we are creating pathways to good jobs and ensuring that Long Beach continues to thrive as a resilient and inclusive city,” Mayor Rex Richardson said in a written statement.

Spearheaded by the department’s Long Beach Department of Economic Development and Opportunity, "the initiative will provide 10 eligible participants with up to 300 hours of paid, on-the-job work experience with local Long Beach employers,” officials said.

In addition to job experience, the department’s initiative will also offer “up to five people training scholarships of up to $7,500 each to obtain industry-recognized credentials in high-demand fields such as healthcare, information technology and advanced manufacturing,” the city said.

“This effort is about more than recovery, it’s about opportunity,” Director Bo Martinez, the department’s director, said. “By connecting individuals impacted by the wildfires to meaningful work experiences and comprehensive training pathways, we are aiding workers with re-establishing stability while also strengthening Long Beach’s local talent pipeline.”

Officials said the initiative is funded by a $130,000 Dislocated Worker Additional Assistance grant under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, “a federal act designed to help job seekers access employment, education, training and support services to succeed in the labor market.”

Interested job seekers looking for more information and would like to apply should contact the department’s career center manager, Nakawa Shepherd, by emailing: Nakawa.Shepherd@longbeach.gov or visiting the department’s adult career services center.

In addition to job seekers, the department is looking for employers who “are interested in hosting a participant to provide on-the-job training while expanding their future workforce,” the city said.

Interested employers are asked to contact the department’s business engagement officer, Courtney Chatterson, at Courtney.Chatterson@longbeach.gov.