Skid Row Career Fair Gives New Hope
"When you're drinking bottles of tequila every night, you know you have a problem," he said.
Now, the Los Angeles Mission graduate says he's been sober for two years this past March, and here at the Skid Row Career Fair, he hopes to find a job.
The career fair is an annual event by the L.A. Mission, in collaboration with several other community organizations, to help the underemployed secure job placement. Finding a steady paycheck is particularly difficult for people with employment gaps, a lack of experience, criminal records or, like Charlie, substance abuse problems.
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Charlie worked last year's event directing traffic flow as part of the yearlong residential program aimed at giving troubled people new purpose and positive direction. Today, Charlie wears a suit and purple tie, resume in hand.
"I'm very hopeful," he said. "I'd like to eventually be able to provide for my children."
Charlie's kids—ages 17, 14 and 9—are back in Indiana with their mother and don't have a close relationship with their father, though he hopes that will change one day. Charlie moved to Los Angeles in 2011 to be close to his own father, but finding employment in the city has proven to be a constant struggle. Now, he works part-time at the Green Apple Market in Skid Row, but says he makes less than $200 a week—hardly enough to live on.
Many people like Charlie would be happy just to find even a part-time job with steady hours, but Tanisha Jenkins, an employment specialist with an event partner Chrysalis, says it's just as important as keep a job as finding one.
"When people have a goal [to find a job] and do finally make that breakthrough, we think, 'We got it, we made it happen.' But we're also immediately thinking how can we sustain that and keep it going."
Jenkins says it's important to promote self-sufficiency, and the fact that employers like the ones at Skid Row today showing they're willing to give those who've not always been able to be self-sufficient a chance "speaks volumes."
"But what I often see is how surprised they are when we put their job history on paper and they see just how many skills they have," Villanueva said.
For Charlie, all it takes is knowing how far he's come.
"I've made more progress than I ever thought I could," he said. Nearby, one of L.A. Mission's volunteers puts his hand on another new graduate's shoulders.
"You got a lot of good leads!" And that's the first step.
Reach Staff Reporter Cassie Paton here. Follow her on Twitter here.