Press Release (March 5, 2005)



Catholic Charities' Youth Employment
Success Story

Since 1965, Catholic Charities’ Youth Employment Services (AYES) program has changed the lives of over 65,000 young people, supplying them with internships, training, and work experience. In the fiscal year 2003-2004, AYES served 2,175 youth, who received paid internships, education, counseling, and career services.  Support services included training and funds for clothing, childcare, transportation, tuition, books, union dues, etc. 

Due to deep cuts of governmental funding (the total contracts' amount is 19% lower than last year and will be reduced by a further 12% next year), is actively searching for new financial resources and new collaborative initiatives. One recent example of AYES' collaborative efforts is a teller’s training course, organized jointly with several banks, including Bank of America, Union Bank, and CitiBank. A story of one young adult who completed the program well illustrates its effectiveness.

"Dmitriy" moved to the United States from Uzbekistan at the age of fifteen and knew little English. He soon earned his high school diploma through the Los Angeles Job Corps. In 2003, Dmitriy began his job training with AYE, as a general office intern for the Loyola Law School Center for Conflict Resolution.  Having successfully completed his first internship, Dmitriy began his second AYE internship, in a data entry position at Bank of America.

After three months of his internship, Dmitriy was invited to join the Bank's team as a part-time Operations Representative.  According to his supervisors, he has proven to be responsible, dedicated, energetic, pleasant and one of the department's top performers.  Simultaneously, Dmitriy is pursuing a degree in Information Technology at Los Angeles City College, with a major in Computer Science. He plans to transfer to a four-year university soon.

Established in 1919, Catholic Charities of Los Angeles has served millions of people, regardless of their race, ethnicity, income, gender or religious belief. During the past fiscal year (July 1, 2003 - June 30, 2004), in more than 50 offices and community centers, the agency provided over 1,286,000 services to 243,994 different individuals. People in need come to Catholic Charities for emergency food and shelter, low-cost before-and-after-school childcare, immigration and refugee assistance, psychological services, computer and jobs skills training, and other supportive services. Poverty doesn't discriminate. How could Catholic Charities?

For more information about AYES, its services, interns, staff, and the graduates of the program call Robert Gutierrez, AYES Director, at 213-736-5456.