1. Hub Cities Consortium helps residents find
work
By Arnold Adler, Staff Writer | Posted: Friday, March 29, 2013 3:04 pm
HUNTINGTON PARK — The U.S. economy is improving and unemployment is down,
but the 15 percent jobless rate for Southeast Los Angeles County (down from about 20
percent several years ago) is still way above the state average of about 10, according to
Alberto Uribe, executive director of the Hub Cities Consortium, based here at 2677 Zoe
Ave.
The consortium is part of the federal Work Force Investment Board, funded through Los
Angeles County and charged with providing job training and help finding employment to
low- and moderate-income residents, especially those who are unemployed or under
employed.
The consortium serves residents of Bell Gardens, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Maywood
and South Gate.
Bell, sandwiched in the middle of the group, is part of another work force board based in
Rosemead but Bell officials have expressed interest in joining their neighbors in Hub
Cities, Uribe said.
Participating cities each send a representative to serve on the Hub Cities Board of
Directors and pay no fees. The consortium, with a staff of about 30 and a budget of about
$5 million a year, is funded by federal funds and other grants, Uribe said.
“There are two parts to our operation, the job hunters and the employers,” he explained.
For the area residents who made some 15,000 visits to the consortium in 2012, Hub
Cities offers job training and related study.
Some of the classes, such as basic computer skills, literacy instruction for English as a
second language students and Independent Study for those seeking a general education

2. degree, the equivalent of a high school diploma, are provided by partners such as Five
Keys Charter Schools, which offer classes at the Huntington Park site.
Other education partners include East Los Angeles College and St. Francis Medical
Center in Lynwood.
Also provided at Hub Cities is a resource center, where job seekers may use computers to
write resumes and look for work online.
The consortium also will pay, up to a point, tuition at a college and transportation, Uribe
said.
The consortium also helps businesses and employers, who receive information on earned
income, tax credits and other programs.
“We work with them to find eligible, trained people to fill their [employment] needs. One
of the employers is Primstor Development, [which is constructing] the 30-acre Azalea
Project, a shopping center at Atlantic Avenue and Firestone Boulevard in South Gate.
Other partners are the California Employment Development Department, which offers a
special service for veterans; the federal Job Corps, the state chamber of commerce.
The job training programs are aimed at those age 18 to 55. For those over 65 a separate
program — The Senior Citizen Service Employment Program — offers help in finding
employment for older people.
At the other end of the age spectrum is the Youth Services Program, which works with
high school age youths, some still attending school but many who have dropped out,
Uribe said.
A major focus for the youths is the Summer Jobs Program, where they work for cities or
nonprofit entities for experience and are paid with federal funds.
The Hub Cities program and those in surrounding communities are funded by the
Workforce Investment Board Act of 1988, and is administered through the U.S.
Department of Labor.
With federal funding, there is always a concern of reduction by Congress intent on saving
money.
Funding was high in 2009 under President Barack Obama’s American Recovery and
Restoration Act, but that program is gone and funding for the work force program has
dropped by about 40 percent in the past few years. Under sequester, the $85 billion

3. spending cut, which took effect March 1, the work force program expects to lose another
10 percent, Uribe said.
A native of Laredo, Texas, Uribe attended St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas,
and has earned a bachelor's and master’s degree in political science. But he has never run
for public office and his career is in social service management, he said.
He started out as a teacher in Laredo and worked for a number of years in Detroit for the
Jewish Vocational Service, an agency offering job training much like Hub Cities. His
employer transferred him to the Los Angeles area in 2007 and he joined Hub Cities in
2009.
“I saw an ad in the paper and applied,” he said on how he found his current job. He
resides in Los Angeles.
Although funding from Congress is uncertain from year to year, Uribe believes the
Consortium will continue its work with a little help from its friends.
“We have been around for 25 years. I am confident that new sources and partnerships
will develop,” he said.