Three years ago, with a high school diploma but poor office skills, 20-year-old Alice Delraso of Chicago was in a dead-end job in a bank.
Besides receiving no paid vacation or sick leave, Delraso’s salary was so small she couldn’t afford to pay her share of the premium on her employer’s group health insurance.
Today Delraso reports she’s earning more and has good benefits at a new part-time job in the Chicago office of U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.). She is also a full-time student at Chicago State University.
Delraso says she owes it all to the Mayor’s Office of Employment and Training (MET) and the Spanish Coalition for Jobs, agencies and programs designed to train the unemployed and underemployed.
Last year, at 52, Donald DiPrima of Elmhurst became another middle manager laid off in a corporate restructuring.
Through a program offered by the Private Industry Council of Northern Cook County, DiPrima, a former forecast analyst, attended an eight-month course of paralegal training at Roosevelt University. Last month he began a new job as a paralegal with the Cook County Circuit Court.
“It’s a job that brings together what I like and what I do well,” said DiPrima, who will be doing in-depth research necessary for legal cases. And, though the new job pays less than his old one, DiPrima’s salary combined with his severance package will do nicely, he said.
In the Chicago area there are six offices administering federal Job Training Partnership Act funds aimed at job training and retraining. The programs DiPrima and Delraso attended both do. Additionally, a number of private agencies extend job training services.
Beginning July 1, more than $157 million in federal money will be available in Illinois for job training, said Commodore Jones, regional director of the Office of Training and Employment Services, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor.
More of that money, said Mary Pepperl, president of PIC/Northern Cook County, will be allocated for job retraining than in previous years.
Public agencies such as MET, PIC/Northern Cook County and PIC/Lake County were established in 1983 to administer Job Training Partnership Act funds. They provide job training for the unemployed and provide trained workers for local businesses, Pepperl said.
According to Carole Cartwright, director of program information for MET, said the agency placed more than 23,000 people last year in summer and year-round jobs, and PIC/Cook County serves about 2,000 a year.
Besides job or vocational training placement, the agencies also help individuals assess their skills, develop job-seeking skills, write resumes and identify aptitudes.
There are more than 500 job-training programs in Illinois.
A recent training program initiated by American Express Travel Management Services, for example, gave displaced workers an opportunity to become travel agents.
The program recently graduated 15 students. All but one have been placed in travel jobs.
Annette Moore, a Chicago single parent, had been laid off from her job as a securities specialist when she learned about the program and qualified for the free training. In April, Moore began work as a travel agent for American Express in one of its Loop offices.
“Anybody can find a job, but this is a career. It’s extremely interesting work, and there’s lots of room for advancement,” Moore said.
JOB TRAINING A CALL AWAY
Anyone interested in learning more about job-training programs can contact the following agencies.
– Spanish Coalition for Jobs Inc., 2011 W. Pershing Rd., Chicago, 60609; 312-247-0707.
Women Employed, 22 W. Monroe St., Suite 1400, Chicago, 60603; 312-782-3902.
Chicago Women in the Trades, 37 S. Ashland Ave., Chicago, 60607; 312-942-1444.
Mayor’s Office of Employment and Training (serves Chicago residents), 510 N. Peshtigo Ct., Suite 2-A, Chicago, 60611; 312-744-5929.
President’s Office of Employment and Training (serves residents in south and southwestern Cook County), 155 N. Wacker Dr., Suite 525, Chicago, 60606 312-201-3100.
Private Industry Council of Northern Cook County, 2604 E. Dempster St., Suite 502, Des Plaines, 60016, 708-699-9040.
DuPage County Department of Human Resources/Private Industry Council of DuPage, 421 N. County Farm Rd., Wheaton, 60187; 708-682-7884.
Private Industry Council of Lake County, 415 Washington St., Waukegan, 60085; 708-249-2200.
KDK (Kane, De Kalb & Kendall Counties) Training, Employment & Business Service, 400 N. Highland Ave., Aurora 60506; 708-406-0670, and 113 S. Grove Ave., Elgin 60120; 708-888-7860.
