Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, Inc.

A Quarterly Newsletter from Catholic Charities - August 2002

CIU Case Manager, Hung Nguyen, left, completes assessment and referral interview during Refugee Employment Program Orientation session in Glendale.

Central Intake Unit Produces Occupational Interest Video

Catholic Charities’ Central Intake Unit (CIU), recently unveiled Career Quest, CIU’s latest effort to enhance employment services for refugees in the Los Angeles area. Career Quest is an inventory used to measure clients’ interest in various occupational fields. Occupational interest is one area in which participants in the Refugee Employment Program, administered by CIU, are assessed. Developed by career counselor Elisabeth Waters, in collaboration with CIU staff, Career Quest was specifically designed to meet the needs of CIU’s participants.

“CIU staff researched a dozen assessments measuring career interest, but none was appropriate for those we serve,” said Lyena Strelkoff, a Catholic Charities’ CIU. Program Specialist who worked on the video. “Most require a high level of English language skill, which few of our participants have, and those few assessments that are pictorial are either outdated or too cumbersome to use. So, we commissioned our own.”

Career Quest is a language-free video using live-action footage to depict 66 different occupations. The occupations fall into career categories, known as clusters. Participants rate their level of interest in each occupation on a scale of 1 to 5. Those clusters with the highest overall rating indicate the strongest areas of interest for further career exploration. The instrument takes only 20 minutes to administer and can be scored in less than five minutes, making it ideal for large group assessments. And it was designed without the bias toward entry-level, unskilled jobs, which is often present in language-free career interest assessments. It can be made available to other Catholic Charities’ programs in addition to CIU.

CIU provides Welfare-to-Work services for refugees and immigrants throughout Los Angeles County. These services are offered at four sites located in Long Beach, El Monte, Burbank, and Los Angeles. For additional information about Career Quest, please contact Lyena Strelkoff at 213-251-3517.

Pomona Access to Social Services (PASS) is located at 502 W. Holt Blvd., Pomona, CA, 909-620-6983. Mary Romero, Catholic Charities’ San Gabriel Regional Director, oversees PASS and may be reached at 323-266-3130.

Social Service Collaboration Aids Client

“Mary” first came to the Pomona Access to Social Services Center (PASS) over a year ago. PASS is a collaborative effort of Catholic Charities, Pomona Valley Council of Churches, Prototypes (substance abuse program), House of Ruth (domestic violence counseling), and Pomona Valley Hospital Homeless Services. She and her two children, ages 4 and 13, had been forced to leave their home because Mary was a victim of domestic violence. They moved from motel to motel until her meager savings was exhausted. At the time, she and her children were staying with Mary’s mother, but because there were too many people living in one apartment, Mary had been told she had to leave. With no transportation, Mary was desperate to find shelter for her family.

Several PASS staff members, including Catholic Charities’ employee JoAnn Noriega, coordinated their efforts and created an individual service plan to assist Mary. The plan included assistance from PASS agencies for domestic violence counseling, mental health analysis, budgeting and life skills training, as well as a plan to obtain the down payment needed for permanent housing.

Now, over a year later, she has a firm foundation on which to build her life. Mary continues to attend a support group and is taking classes at Mt. San Antonio College to become a certified nurse. She also purchased a used car. Her children are well-adjusted and attending school. Unfortunately, Mary’s landlord now wants to live in the house she is renting; this means Mary will need to find a new place to live. With continued case management from the PASS staff, Mary is looking for new permanent housing.

Catholic Charities Welcomes On-Line Donations
Catholic Charities’ website is equipped with a secure on-line donations page.
Just visit the “How You Can Help/Ways to Donate” page at www.CatholicCharitiesLA.org for information on how you can make a donation using your credit card on-line, or call
Jamie Besso, Webmaster, at 213-251-3433.