An unusual jobs program at the giant Playa Vista project, focused on putting “at-risk” people to work, may hold out hope that social ills and labor shortages could be alleviated simultaneously.

The Playa Vista Job Opportunities and Business Services (PVJOBS) program was born after the L.A. City Council required the Playa Vista developer to provide work to the surrounding community as a condition of approving its project, according to the program’s director, Ernest Roberts. But developer Playa Capital went even further, requiring its contractors to hire 10 percent of their workers from the surrounding area’s “at-risk” population meaning people with drug addictions, low incomes, criminal records and other problems.

Though the program has only been running for about a year and a half, it is already being seen as a model for future developments. Despite the troubled nature of the job applicants, there has been a very low dropout rate, organizers say.

“Most of our guys are ready to go,” Roberts said. “They stick straight off, and the employer is in a good position because of all the (social) services that come bundled together with the worker.”

On the way to a career

The program is committed to keeping at-risk workers employed for a minimum of 3,000 man hours approximately a year and half. “If a contractor takes a guy on but leaves the project at a certain point, (that worker) will come back into the database. Our feeling was that a year and a half is enough time to get them on the way to a career,” Roberts said.

To date, only 38 people have gone through the program, but Roberts promises many more are on the way. The PVJOBS database has 640 candidates waiting for work, but they haven’t yet been hired because Playa Capital is still seeking construction permits to start work on the majority of its project. Phase one of the Playa Vista development is expected to provide 1,000 jobs for program participants.

Neil Matt, co-owner of Playa Vista contractor Matt Construction, said his brief experience employing candidates pulled from PVJOBS pool has worked out fine.

“They were in the laborer class,” he said. “The program actually benefits us because it gives us a larger labor pool. Right now, you can’t find people.”

Adi Liberman, chief of staff for City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, said Galanter is seeking to tie all large construction projects in her district to similar community hiring programs. Liberman thinks Playa Vista’s model has a future, noting that the program has spawned other positive programs.

Even though DreamWorks SKG, the project’s original anchor tenant, dropped out, it has continued supporting a program it started as part of its original commitment to Playa Vista, Liberman said. DreamWorks’ Job Link initiative is designed to find jobs for members of disadvantaged communities in the entertainment industry.

“They committed $5 million and also got the state and the Entertainment Industry Foundation to commit funds (to the program) as well,” Liberman said.

For the Playa Vista program, outreach is done in conjunction with over 40 community-based organizations, which provide job candidates. PVJOBS has established a list of eight adverse conditions establishing candidacy. Those to whom the most conditions apply are given priority in the job pecking order, Roberts said.

The conditions include lack of a high school diploma, a history of substance abuse, a household income 50 percent below the median, a criminal record and status as a single parent.

Job candidates are put through a rigorous prescreening and job preparation process before their names are entered into the PVJOBS database. That process is the main reason cited for the low dropout rate. The community-based organizations provide “life training” for those who need it teaching job aspirants everything from balancing a checkbook to developing a work ethic.

Putting lives in order

The organizations are also responsible for providing “barrier reduction,” which can involve helping a job candidate to remedy an outstanding arrest warrant, apply for a driver’s license, or get rid of other obstacles to entering the workplace. The preparation also includes construction training. All of the candidate preparation costs are footed by the community-based organizations, Roberts pointed out.

Following construction training, the candidates have to be made “union-ready.” This involves drug screening and whatever other tests the various craft unions require of those looking to enter their apprenticeship programs.

“Each has different requirements,” Roberts said. “The electricians want proof of exposure to algebra. The laborers don’t require anything.”

For now, this has resulted in a large number of candidates for trades and unions with low entry requirements, while the shortage of engineers, sheet-metal workers and electricians has not been alleviated by the program.

Once on site, the contractor and employee are instructed to call Roberts if there is a problem.

Steve Neville, labor relations manager for Playa Vista, thinks PVJOBS is a model program, unique in that it is geared toward people truly interested in a career. “It’s not just a program to keep people off the street, out of trouble and collecting a paycheck,” he said.

Still, given the amount of work required, it may be some time before other private-sector developers adopt similar programs.

“There has to be a fundamental shift in the corporate world’s thinking, and in the public sector’s,” Roberts said. “This population should be afforded the opportunity to continue their lives once they’ve righted themselves. Without those chances, the social fabric of our community will continue to deteriorate. If not now while the economy is good, when?”