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September 16, 2007 - The Times-Picayune
Database helping Hispanics land jobs ; Local firms urged to tap into resource
By Greg Thomas
After Hurricane Katrina, Ines Orellana couldn't figure out a way to get back home to New Orleans.
Before the storm, she had been a full-time student at Delgado, and was baby-sitting and cleaning houses to make ends meet. After evacuating to Houston, it was difficult to find a way to return to New Orleans and support herself.
"I didn't know how to open a way to land a job and have my life here (in New Orleans) again," she said.
But thanks to a relatively new database and a Hispanic-focused job center that puts together Spanish or bilingual speakers with available jobs, Orellana got back on her feet and back to New Orleans.
Through the Hispanic Apostolate of Catholic Charities' database, she was hooked up with a job at Gulf Marine & Industrial Supply's purchasing department.
The apostolate has built a database of legally documented Hispanics looking for work. To date, the apostolate has placed 200 of the 800 listed in jobs. If the workers need training, they can receive it at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Louisiana's Kenner Resource Technology Center, a cooperative endeavor between the chamber, the Jefferson Parish School District, Southeastern Louisiana University and the apostolate.
Gulf Marine Comptroller Karen Enamorado, who sought out the Hispanic Apostolate's help to find Spanish-speaking employees, said the database, which puts together qualified workers with businesses, is desperately needed.
"It attracts not just bilingual professionals but international business opportunities, new businesses, even explore business opportunities overseas," Enamorado said.
The database and job center are necessary to fully utilize the powerful labor pool of Hispanics in the area, said Darlene Kattan, executive director of the Hispanic Chamber, based in New Orleans.
"The chamber is barraged with calls from people needing employees and wanting bilingual employees," she said. A database of registered Hispanic workers and companies had long been maintained by the Hispanic Chamber, but after Katrina, the data became nearly useless. Businesses relocated, shut down or are just now reopening. Owners have moved, and employees are still without housing, living out of state or have simply found new jobs in new cities.
The Hispanic Apostolate picked up the ball and created the new database, Kattan said.
Maria Jose Bermudez, communications and community liaison for the Hispanic Apostolate, said the apostolate began re-creating a database of Hispanic workers in March.
The problem, however, is that while Latinos have registered -- and they must be legally documented workers to register -- employers don't know about it.
"Right now the problem is we have too many documented, trained workers and not enough employers who know about us," Bermudez said.
In addition to the job search service, the apostolate center in Kenner provides immigration services, language classes, citizenship classes, housing discrimination information and various forms of counseling.
It also is a health screening center critical for the Hispanic population, Bermudez said, with prenatal care, men's health care and other medical services.
For those who can't get to the center, the Hispanic Chamber, with a $300,000 federal grant, will soon start an online job registration, screening and training site. The online program first tests the user for their level of English, math, writing and social skills.
If they don't master the skills, the Web site will offer them teaching modules to help them improve their math or English skills. Initially, the lessons are in Spanish. But as the user progresses, more and more of the lessons and tests are in English, forcing the user to become more proficient in English.
The program will allow instructors to individually tailor the program to meet the students' needs. Those interested in the program can access it from their own computer or use one of 30 to 40 that eventually will be installed in the resource center.
For more information about the training or registration program of the Hispanic Chamber, e-mail Kattan at info@hccl.biz.
Information on services from the Hispanic Apostolate can be obtained by calling the resource center at (504) 464-5478, ext. 208 or 218.
No immigration documentation is needed for social services, except for the job registry programs. |
