A year ago Jazmin Mercado found an opportunity that changed her life.
“This experience for me has been something that taught me a new world,” says Mercado. “I had always heard of the apprenticeships but I didn’t know exactly how one entered, right?”
Now she is ready, willing and able after participating in Ready Willing and Able, a program in which she trains people with disabilities to enter the health sector.
The Career Online High School (COHS) program enables adults to earn a high school diploma or certificate and professional training.
“They are the most loyal people we have seen in the workplace, not because they have that disability, but because they have that commitment and effort,” said Alexandra Mendoza, of the American Work Skills and Innovation Institute (IWSI).
Just over 34% of people with disabilities are employed, according to agencies working on their training. But the Ready, Willing and Able program has been dedicated to changing those statistics.
The program is a joint effort between IWSI and the California Department of Rehabilitation.
“Everything depends on each occupation,” says Mendoza. “For example, as an optician, it takes you two to three months to understand the theory, how to be an assistant, how to help doctors, how to get prescriptions”
Mendoza guided Mercado in his new job at an optical store.
“I know that if they tell me you have to do this or whatever, I do it with pure 100% or more than 100%,” says Mercado. “I’ve always been like that because everything hasn’t come easy to me, right.”
The Latino Leadership Institute and Hispanics Organized for Political Equity (HOPE) are some of the organizations that offer development programs to inform Hispanics about the opportunities for this community.
The program has been successful. By this June, nearly 60 individuals will be ready to start paid work. But as they are also discovering, more companies are needed willing to provide these opportunities.
“It is tragic to see so many people who have that ability to work and also the power to do it,” Mendoza says.
“But I say that because of the myth that there is behind that ‘disabilidad’ (disability) they do not give that door completely open but to those who do, they go with everything.”
A group of women engineers who work for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) seek to motivate other young people to get involved in STEM careers.
Those interested in the services can visit the program page, by clicking here. There you will find information in Spanish about the programs and how to contact Alexandra Mendoza, with whom the official request is made.
“It’s something that gives me security, that gives me heart and mind, that I have a lot of people who are really supporting me and it’s something very nice,” says Mercado.
In its first official report it was announced that by the end of the year between 75-85 would be trained for more jobs. People 16 years and older can participate but must be a US citizen, permanent resident or have a US work permit.
