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Ready to hire: Employers find stimulus money, and workers

COVINA - For months, Bob Machuca has been trying to get the word out: stimulus dollars - millions of them - are out there for firms to expand their workforce, with no cost to them. Somehow, many businesses in the San Gabriel Valley just weren't getting the message.

But on Tuesday, inside of a Radisson Hotel banquet room, Machuca - regional manager for the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership - sat and watched as several local business representatives learned how to hire - at a time when many are cutting.

It was all about what officials call transitional subsidized employment - a fancy title for a nine-month-old program in which $106 million has been set aside to employ 10,000 people in Los Angeles County. The key is to get businesses on board, but it hasn't been easy.

"It's a very unique opportunity...it's stimulus money coming in at the ground level that can help businesses grow," said Dustin Stevenson, business development coordinator at the South Bay Workforce Investment Board.

The board is administering the program at the county level.

On Tuesday, Stevenson explained to a range of employers - from adult day care centers to insurance agents - how they can use the money to expand their workforces.

Through the program, potential employees, from CPAs and truck drivers to supervisors, are pre-screened through the county to be eligible to be hired. Interested employers can get in touch with regional worksource centers, such as the Central San Gabriel Valley WorkSource Center, and set up an interview with the candidate.

Officials call it a good example of a public-private partnership that can actually put people to work - for $10 an hour and 80 hours every two weeks - while helping to revive the economy. The program also pays workers' compensation costs for the new hires.

Alicia Rogan, a Pomona-based State Farm Insurance agent looking to possibly hire one office worker, was at first looking for a catch.

If anything came close, it was a requirement that the employer show that the time spent supervising the hired employee meets a certain value threshold.

In the end, Rogan was interested.

"A lot of businesses are asking, `Where's the stimulus money?' "Well, until something like this came along, we didn't know where it was. I think it's going to work for me."

A key value to businesses though the program is that it allows firms to hire staff while freeing up other employees to grow and market the business or nonprofit, program officials said.

That's exactly what happened at the San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps, said its Deputy Director David P. De Mers.

"It's freeing up critical people within so you can go out and grow the business," he said   Read Full Article...