On Nov.19, San Pedro civic leader Joe Gatlin announced a port related job training program in partnership with the Port of Los Angeles. Gatlin, a longtime organizer of Juneteenth celebration in San Pedro and vice president of the San Pedro/Wilmington chapter of the NAACP, fulfilled a long time desire to build a jobs training program to spread the opportunity of obtaining careers that don’t require a college degree at the Port of Los Angeles.
The timing of the announcement was fully intended to take advantage of the spotlight the port has as a result of the 80 plus ships waiting outside the breakwater to drop off their containers and the Build Back Better bill that was signed.
Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka spoke with an assortment of educators, civic leaders and CEOs, the majority of whom were from communities of color. Seroka discussed a partnership between them and the port to offer job training during a ferry around the Harbor aboard the Angelina.
Seroka laid out a vision of possibilities and an array of tools that can be deployed to achieve the desired end of opening up port related jobs to disadvantaged Angelenos outside of San Pedro and Wilmington.
“Joe [Gatlin] and I thought we could take advantage of it,” Seroka said, referring to the attention the port is getting as a result of the Build Back Better bill and the cargo ships backed up outside the ports. “Can we sell this port, this community, this Southern Los Angeles enclave, to people who might be interested in coming to work here, coming to invest here, coming to bring black owned businesses here, whatever the case may be, and more? Because that spotlight is on us, we have a unique chance right now.”
Seroka explained with the education and business folk present on the ferry ride, the best at the port have been assigned to interface with the community members on this jobs training plan, including the port’s deputy executive director of stakeholder engagement, David Libatique, Jessica Bautista, management analyst for the port’s community relations department; and Avin Sharma who is in charge of workforce training and development along with three other volunteer jobs he has at the port. Sharma has worked for the U.S. secretary of labor, Tom Perez, among others in Washington, D.C.
“We have Mike Dibernardo, who has been a fixture here in San Pedro for generations,” Seroka said. “These are people that know what’s going on from the port’s perspective; Folks who know what’s going on from community, from business, from education, the blend of these I think it’d be very powerful.”
Seroka noted that the city, through executive order No. 27 from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, has equity and equality built into the city’s hiring system.
“We at the Harbor Department of Los Angeles want to look like the city of Los Angeles,” Seroka said. “We publish once a month our demographics in education, and of who we are and what we do and everything in between and our goal is to look like this great city every day.”
Except executive directive No. 27 was contingent upon the passage of Prop. 16, the ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to repeal Prop. 209, which effectively banned affirmative action in education and contracting in California.
“You want to sit down and talk? If you have ideas, if you want constructive dialogue, I’m always available,” Seroka said. “Joe talked about contracting and how we do get measured every year on how many businesses we contract with that are female-owned, that are minority-owned, that are Black owned and we cut and slice every way we can to give us [as] many an opportunity as possible.”
Seroka referenced the city’s targeted local hiring program in which it is possible to look at the specific zip codes in need in different communities as a work-around.
“The targeted local hiring program has a re-entry [component]. So folks who may have been incarcerated and want to get back into the mainstream and want to work at whatever level, whatever discipline can have that opportunity as well,” Seroka said.
Throughout his comments, Seroka painted a vision of the possibilities while at the same tempering expectations by keeping the vision in the realm of ideas instead of concrete action plans.
Seroka went on to call the partnership a framework, “but it takes folks like us to figure out how to best implement real life examples into that frame.”
“Maybe the framework has to be massaged or maybe it has to be looked at from a different lens sometimes,” Seroka said. “And that’s why I say, this is a start and this is what we want to convey. This is not a one-and-done meeting. You want to visit with me, my door’s always open. It’s not always taking advantage of it, but it’s there for you. I serve the public.”
On the civic side of the conversation was Spaulding Gatlin and Associates, founded by Gatlin and the heirs of the sporting goods titan. Spaulding Gatlin and Associates will serve to connect disadvantaged communities with the training that will allow them to find well paid jobs at the port.
Gatlin introduced first, William Mendoza, Spaulding, Gatlin and Associates director of operations, who has a background in workforce development.
“The goal is to reintroduce the ports to San Pedro and then as someone who grew up here, I really want to help reintroduce San Pedro to the rest of LA County,” Mendoza said.
Jennifer Gatlin is director of programming and development at Spaulding, Gatlin and Associates. Her background includes managerial and training development, curriculum development, and workforce instruction.
She said her role at Spaulding, Gatlin and Associates is to help facilitate and oversee the training programs in partnership with many of the business leaders who were present which included ACTi founder and president, Ruben Garcia, the president and CEO of the University of West Los Angeles law school, Robert Brown and others.
“We will ensure equity in hiring and equity in hiring means generational equity,” the younger Gatlin said.
She referenced her family’s civic involvement in San Pedro and activism on the waterfront, including the National Labor Relations lawsuit that led to the Phillips-Gatlin agreement that allowed the admission of African Americans and others who were barred from joining the ILWU due to the requirement that applicants be sponsored by existing members.
“Sixty years ago, my grandfather, John Gatlin, was fighting for equity and fighting for fairness on hiring for this port,” she said. “And I’m so proud to be a part of my family’s legacy and following in my father’s footsteps. We’re fighting for this country following in my family’s legacy for supporting this community.”
She concluded her remarks expressing her excitement and hope in collaborating with the attendee present on this job training initiative.
Dr. Cheyenne Bryant, the president of the San Pedro/Wilmington chapter of the NAACP spoke on the future collaborations of Spaulding, Gatlin and Associates and the heads of industry in attendance, including the president and CEO of the University of West Los Angeles who was in attendance. UWLA will be partnering with Spaulding, Gatlin and Associates to provide online courses and training for those port related jobs.
“When it comes to online courses and online training a lot of the positions that will be available are going to [require] training and they’re going to be online courses,” Dr. Bryant said. “A lot of folks who are [going to be applying for those] positions are underprivileged and are low income. They don’t have the transportation. They don’t have the time to be sitting in a classroom.”
Bryant discussed the importance of specifically reaching out to the Black community with these jobs training programs.
“We know there’s a lot of disparities in this community and I think what makes it really awesome is that we’re doing this … predominately for the Black community,” Dr. Bryant said. “The reason why it’s important to say that is because oftentimes we say minority communities, a lot of those jobs and those resources seep between the cracks and crevices to other minorities, which we want to help, but right now we have to be able to help the Black community, which is suffering.”
Everyone left the ferry feeling good about the announcement. The biggest unanswered question was, “When will it begin?”