City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson hosted a hiring fair on March 12th at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall to bring employment opportunities and job training services to South L.A. residents. The area has the highest unemployment rate in the city, and one of the Councilmember’s top priorities is connecting area residents with jobs.
The event was co-hosted by the Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council, Council President Herb Wesson, Mayor Eric Garcetti, Congressmember Karen Bass and Assemblymember Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, and supported by the Los Angeles City Workforce Development Board, the California Employment Development Department, Brotherhood Crusade, the Los Angeles Urban League and the Asian American Drug Abuse Program (AADAP).
Over 1,000 residents met with employers from the public and private sectors who were recruiting for hospitality, retail, construction and government jobs. Attendees were also able to access Prop 47 educational resources to reduce low-level, non-violent felonies to misdemeanors.
“Today we connected hundreds of South L.A. residents with the means to provide for themselves and their families and the opportunity to be self-sufficient,” said Councilmember Harris-Dawson. “We need jobs in South L.A. to improve our local economy.”
Councilmember Harris-Dawson said that his office will continue to work with all the employers to track the success of job seekers from the hiring fair. The Councilmember is also pushing for targeted hiring of area residents in city jobs and on development projects in the larger region.
