Career Centers Recommended for $1-Million Grant

Ventura County’s welfare reform plan to open one-stop career centers for public aid recipients has been recommended for a $1-million grant by the state Job Training Coordinating Council, county Supervisor John K. Flynn said Saturday.

If approved by the governor, the money will be used to support the county’s effort to link welfare recipients with the services they need to become self-sufficient.

The job training council made the recommendation following a visit to Ventura County last week.

The council advises the governor on work force development policies and monitors the activities of the federal Job Training Partnership Act, which runs employment programs for the economically disadvantaged.

“It’s really a major assistance for us,” Flynn said. “I think this will all come together fast. It will bring communities together.”

The county’s plan is to pull together representatives from an array of state and county agencies and nonprofit groups and house them in career centers across the county.

With a visit to one building, welfare recipients could take advantage of services they might need to find work, from job searches and job training to child care and alcohol and drug rehabilitation.

The first one-stop center is scheduled to open in south Oxnard in July, with a second planned for Santa Paula. County officials later plan to expand the concept countywide.

Flynn said the money could be used to hire support staff for the career centers, or employ someone to coordinate the large number of volunteers the county hopes to recruit into the welfare reform effort.