00:00:21.330 - 00:00:41.800

Sonoma County, a dynamic county combining agriculture and industry, City and country creating unique and varied challenges for its citizens join us as we present some of the information and services provided by the county of Sonoma to help us as we move into the 21st century. Welcome

00:00:41.810 - 00:01:01.380

to Sonoma County in the 90s with your host, Dana Jericho and Dina Lash. Hi, I'm Gina Lash and you're listening to Sonoma County in the nineties with us. Today, we have two people that are involved with a new program. Any w nontraditional employment for women we

00:01:01.380 - 00:01:20.355

have with us Gloria Heda who works with the new program, and Swan, who also coordinates the new program. And later we'll be joined by heather Jacobs who is a student in the new program. Welcome to both of you were really happy to have you on. Diana

00:01:20.365 - 00:01:38.610

described what the new program is. Well, Dina, the new program is a program that's a federally funded grant. Um, and it was a grant that was enacted by the Congress back in 1991 as part of an amendment to the Job Trading and Partnership act otherwise known

00:01:38.610 - 00:01:56.700

as J. T. P. A. And what this grant provided for and why Congress felt that it was important to provide some extra money for women to go into nontraditional careers was because basically they could obtain a higher entry level income and probably ultimately better promotions. A

00:01:56.710 - 00:02:13.440

lot of benefits to women going into a nontraditional career. So basically it came out of the Congress, the entire Congress voted on this in 1991 and it's administered by the private industry council. So it's part of a job training program. Diana, what is your role with

00:02:13.440 - 00:02:34.240

the new program? Well, my role is as a coordinator at santa rosa Junior College. And I work in the department called vocational projects and studies there. And what I do is I do recruitment for this program. I I we do occasional orientation sessions. People can come

00:02:34.240 - 00:02:48.860

to those women can come and find out about the program. I do the counseling for them. We have a support group and I work very closely with the women in the program to help them get through this project. You talked a little bit about how the

00:02:48.860 - 00:03:08.850

new program came about. You want to elaborate a little bit about that. Why do you think Congress saw the need to pass something that would specifically target women? Good question. Well, the program targets low income women in particular and that is what J. T. P. A.

00:03:08.850 - 00:03:25.750

Is about. It's about working with people who are low income who need a hand up to um get more training so that they can become employable. And so the reason that Congress really looked into this was because they realized that women in what we call the

00:03:25.750 - 00:03:43.970

more traditional kinds of jobs don't always make the kind of income that they could make it a nontraditional job. So that was the reason that that Congress voted to implement this amendment to the J. T. P. Act? And how long has the program been in existence?

00:03:44.280 - 00:04:02.480

It's started in 1991. And so the program that I actually am working with here in Sonoma County has actually been a three-year program almost nearing the completion of the grant. But we will be continuing on with school district funding. Great Gloria. What is your involvement with

00:04:02.480 - 00:04:25.220

the new program? I work at the Private Industry Council as a vocational counselor and I am the liaison between uh Diana and the J. C. And um the rest of the counselors that also see uh women throughout this training. Uh we share information back and forth.

00:04:25.630 - 00:04:49.720

We have meetings to make sure that things are running smoothly. Um I uh I also have uh women at that are non traditional uh in training for non traditional employment. Um And we help them with their career exploration assessment phase, helped them with discovering what their

00:04:49.720 - 00:05:10.000

career interest is. Um uh It's uh we refer to it as a career exploration, objective assessment. This is the period where they discover what it is uh that they'd like to do and and uh see what the motivation commitment level is to to long term training.

00:05:10.010 - 00:05:29.390

So basically Deana, you mentioned that the private industry council sponsors this program, it sounds like a collaborative effort with the junior college and the private industry council bring young women women of all ages. Could you give us some background on the types of women you're serving

00:05:29.390 - 00:05:46.290

in this program? Sure. Yeah. Um, I would say that the women who come into this program are primarily women who are in their mid twenties to, we have one woman in the program who will be 50 I believe this year. There's no, there's no age requirement.

00:05:46.300 - 00:06:04.050

Um, the primary requirement so far has been that they are eligible by virtue of several things, but particularly being low income and the reason for this is that these are the women that need our help and what they get for help that I think is really

00:06:04.050 - 00:06:19.060

important that I want to stress here is that they get childcare. So we have, for instance, women in our program who have been in training at the junior college for two years and they get all their childcare paid for during that time. And they also get

00:06:19.060 - 00:06:35.360

books. They also get tuition and they also get transportation money. So this really provides them with the ability to get a good training and a good foundation and move out into the world to become self sufficient. Do you know how many of you, how many women

00:06:35.360 - 00:06:52.430

you've served in the last few years? Sure. We have 31 women who have participated in the program. We have 12 of them who are now out in the workforce. We have 19 who are continuing their training Gloria, you work at Pick and I'm wondering does pick

00:06:52.440 - 00:07:11.070

do anything specifically to assist these women. Oh yes, very much so. Uh We after training, the training plan is approved. We we help them with their child care. We provide books, tuition help. If they should not be able to benefit from the bog grant that the

00:07:11.070 - 00:07:28.830

J. C. Offers um counseling supportive help throughout their training phase. So if I'm a woman and I want to get involved in this program, do I come to the pick office first, would that be my first point of entree? Uh You can certainly make contact through

00:07:28.830 - 00:07:48.673

our office first. Deanna would also be able to channel that person to our office if they would like pick assistance. Uh J. C. Also offers a wide array of services, financial aid. Um E. O. P. P. S. Is on campus that they can benefit from what

00:07:48.683 - 00:08:07.543

they provide book awards and such. So we're all working together to maximize all our monies to support the woman while she is in in class. Uh Something in addition to to what I've mentioned, the Pick provides employment services after uh The training phase is complete uh

00:08:07.553 - 00:08:25.546

seminars on job search interviewing assistance. Uh Job leads um on the job training is also, so the uh a second part of the classroom training that may benefit the woman in order for them to land a job. So it sounds to me like with the help

00:08:25.546 - 00:08:43.760

of Pick and the junior college, these women have a very strong support system not only for themselves but for their families or Children and that's really nice Deanna. Is this open to any woman in Sonoma County or is it specific to a certain demographic area? Well

00:08:43.770 - 00:09:01.670

currently it's open the N. E. W. Program is open to any woman. Any woman can of course train in a nontraditional career. And I want to talk a little bit about what that means in a minute. If a person wants to go through pick to come

00:09:01.670 - 00:09:16.790

to the J. C. For instance they wouldn't need to be eligible for pick services and they would they would they would need to be eligible for pick services. Now as I said we have gotten some district funding, some Sonoma County school district funding to help other

00:09:16.790 - 00:09:31.710

women who may not be pick eligible currently. So starting this month you know that there are women who are really interested in pursuing a non traditional career and they need some support. Maybe just some counseling support but also if they need child care for and they're

00:09:31.710 - 00:09:51.690

not eligible for pick please call me and we'll be able to help them. And where should they call you Deanna? My number at the junior college is 5241687. Okay and we'll be repeating that later. What kinds of jobs or careers are considered nontraditional jobs for women?

00:09:52.340 - 00:10:06.270

Well nontraditional has often been seen by people people think of the trades. You know that's often what they think when I say I do this program, people say oh that's you know you're trying to get women into hard hats and that's a little bit of it.

00:10:06.280 - 00:10:27.720

But it's a very little bit basically. These areas included are a lot of the areas that were now calling high technology jobs and that would include computer programming, electronic technician. Hewlett Packard currently is really in need of a lot of electronic text. Um Civil engineering, surveying,

00:10:27.730 - 00:10:48.200

any agricultural career is non traditional for women in this county. Winemaking is a really big area for opportunity. Um All of the careers that are under the Department of Justice, law enforcement corrections officer, um animal control safety officer safety dispatch your 911 operators. They're actually all

00:10:48.200 - 00:11:08.190

nontraditional because that entire field is got at least 75% men in any area where there are less than 25% women be nontraditional career. That's what I was gonna ask you. How would you know what specific job or career specifically been gender related. And it sounds like

00:11:08.190 - 00:11:22.580

you have some statistics on that which can lead a woman into a different type of career. And again, you know I wanted to say that also the trades of course are included but I wanted to also mention the other areas and again our women are now

00:11:22.580 - 00:11:39.850

going out who have been trained in these areas and making $10 to $17 an hour to start. That's very different than some of the more traditional areas that you get paid 56, maybe $7 an hour. So this is really the important part of this program is

00:11:39.850 - 00:11:52.585

economic equity for women so that they can become self sufficient. And basically I guess you've seen a big difference in the types of jobs these women are going into than what you've seen in the past in terms of young women going through the junior colleges that

00:11:52.705 - 00:12:06.765

basically what you're seeing now. Yes, we're really working hard to get women excited about going into other areas than what we call the more traditional areas. And we really hope that they look that they take a look at these areas that they may not have even

00:12:06.765 - 00:12:23.740

thought were areas that they might want to explore. And are the women that are all the areas that I mentioned um about, you know that I just mentioned are all available through the junior college. We also can provide people with apprenticeships. So you want to be

00:12:23.740 - 00:12:40.690

an electrician, That's part of this whole program as well. So the training is not limited to the junior college. We have people going to other areas for training as well as the junior college Gloria, the people that utilize the private industry council or your job training

00:12:40.690 - 00:12:58.503

office. Are you limited to just women or do you serve a variety of people, we serve a wide variety of people, we uh provide services to low income people that meet the federal J. D. P. A. Guidelines. We also serve folks Are needing retraining services through

00:12:58.503 - 00:13:21.286

our dislocated worker uh part of our service, we provide services to older workers over 55 that are needing retraining services. Um we uh we have a summer youth program every summer where we serve 14-21 and place them in work sites to learn work maturity skills and

00:13:21.296 - 00:13:39.720

earn money during the summer months. So there is, there is much that the Prime Minister Council provides folks in Sonoma County and it's not necessary limited agenda. Just this program is a program for women. You know Gloria, you've been in this program for a while and

00:13:39.720 - 00:13:54.630

I know that you're gonna be leaving us after the break and we're gonna meet one of our new students. And I want to ask you, what's your favorite thing Gloria about this program? Seeing the women blossom and really having them realize that there are options out

00:13:54.640 - 00:14:18.060

there and having them uh realize that they can become self sufficient and get off A. F. D. C. Uh most majority of the women have been participated in the FTC program Aid to families with dependent Children. Uh there's uh there's the feeling now that they can

00:14:18.060 - 00:14:34.930

provide for their family. Many of the households or or single single households. And so they are able to meet the needs of a growing family single family. It sounds like a really rewarding program. We're gonna stop now for a station, public service announcement. I want to

00:14:34.930 - 00:14:56.830

thank Gloria for joining us and we're going to be back with heather Jacobs. There are cosmic miracles like a star being born. And then there are miracles right here on earth that we can help make happen miracles made possible through an organization called Child Reach. Child

00:14:56.830 - 00:15:17.740

Reach, find sponsors for needy Children overseas and helps families and communities free themselves from the world's cruelest poverty call 1 803 to 8 to 100. Why just watch a miracle when you can help make one happen. Welcome back to Sonoma County. In the 90s. We're talking

00:15:17.740 - 00:15:35.500

about new nontraditional employment for women. And joining us is Heather Jacobs who is a student in the new program and staying with us is Deana Swan, who's the coordinate for the new program at santa rosa Junior College. Welcome to both of you Again, heather you're a

00:15:35.500 - 00:15:52.940

student in the new program and we're curious to know what kind of training you're involved in. Well right now I'm getting a certificate in architecture and construction management and my ultimate goal here is employment as a cad drafter. Um It's computer assisted drafting uh working for

00:15:52.940 - 00:16:07.280

an architect. Hopefully. So tell us how you got involved with this program. Give us a little bit about your background. Well as far as how I got involved with this program, been looking for a job training program for quite some time. And a family member had

00:16:07.280 - 00:16:24.630

heard um advertisement on the radio about this program. And she thought that it would suit me pretty well. And she was right. So I got in contact with the pick office and went through an orientation process and through a series of tests um that they had

00:16:24.630 - 00:16:47.530

given me as far as my skills and interests and um the like um we came to the conclusion that I would be good at uh drafting architecture. How technical is drafting an architecture? Technical? Well, there's a lot of math involved in and they use the computers.

00:16:47.540 - 00:17:05.150

Um I don't know, I find it somewhat artistic to some degree because you're drawing a lot um more than technical. I mean that's just my perspective, but um like I said, there's a lot of math involved. Um and we work with a computer quite a bit.

00:17:05.310 - 00:17:19.930

So basically after you went through your assessment testing, I guess that those tests determined that you really have a 40, I guess you would say in those areas that yeah, exactly. That's narrowed down what kind of occupations I'd be good at because I really had a

00:17:19.940 - 00:17:36.860

vague idea about what kind of occupations were out there and what I might be good at. You know, diana heather brings up a really interesting point in the past, women have shied away from careers that deal a lot with science and math and I'm sure that

00:17:36.870 - 00:17:50.130

that's something that you've had to address with the new program. How do you assist women in overcoming that barrier? If it is a barrier, in fact, and I'm not sure it is, but maybe you could talk about that. Yeah, well of course it's a barrier. You

00:17:50.130 - 00:18:04.820

know, it's a barrier whenever we try to break new ground. And um I'll tell you a little story about someone who's in heather's field that I knew a woman who has been in drafting for about 20 years teacher, her name is roberta, first name, and roberta

00:18:04.820 - 00:18:18.710

told me that the only way that she could ever leave a message for someone was by saying bert. And the reason she would leave Burt is because if they saw roberta, no one would call her back. So um there has been a lot of barriers and

00:18:18.710 - 00:18:35.420

I think we've been breaking through the barriers for getting women into certainly into business. Um and in other areas, the trades have probably the area where we have least been able to help women penetrate that barrier. But I think in some of the high technology areas

00:18:35.430 - 00:18:55.890

computers, computer programming, computer aided drafting that heather is working on. Uh there are more women certainly getting into these fields. Um but we do have to face the barriers of discrimination and it's particularly difficult in an all male dominated atmosphere for women to work. And so

00:18:55.890 - 00:19:12.600

we work very closely with the women in this program to help them get over those barriers. Do they get any special assistance in the areas of science and math? Absolutely. Uh Dean at the college we have even a class for people who have math anxiety and

00:19:12.600 - 00:19:29.940

a lot of women take this and get a lot of help. One of my star students in the N. E. W. Program has started with very basic uh mathematics. Pre algebra went through algebra went on and finished trigonometry recently. She's in civil engineering technology. So it

00:19:29.940 - 00:19:44.190

is possible and I think heather can probably attest to this to that it's possible to get through the math and science. In fact just a quick other story. A woman came in who was 46 to me the other day told me that she had a terrible

00:19:44.190 - 00:19:59.630

experience in high school geometry. She thought she would never ever do anything with math again. And she's now just finished her second semester of algebra. She loves math and she wants to go into computer programming. That's really like that heather. What did you do before you

00:19:59.630 - 00:20:15.380

got involved with a new program? Were you working or what your background there? I I was a single parent with two Children. I didn't have a great deal of educational background or a great deal of work experience either. Um I had held maybe three minimum wage

00:20:15.390 - 00:20:36.970

jobs prior to getting involved with this program. Um educational background. I dropped out of school in ninth grade ninth grade ninth grade and I had gone on and got my G. E. D. When I was 20. Um but I I didn't have a lot of experience

00:20:36.980 - 00:20:49.620

with with education going to high school and everything, so I was pretty intimidated about the thought of going to college. But thanks to the support of this program, the transition was fairly easy for me. How long have you been in this program? A year and a

00:20:49.620 - 00:21:03.010

half? That's wonderful. How old are your Children now? I have a three year old daughter and an eight year old daughter. So how do they feel about their mother being in school? They're very proud of me as well as the the rest of my family. Um

00:21:03.020 - 00:21:14.880

you know, I get a lot of support from them and I personally feel that my Children benefit a great deal because they see a much better example as far as their mother is concerned, I have two daughters, so I think it's really important for them to

00:21:14.880 - 00:21:30.430

understand that um there is more to the world than just staying at home with your Children. There is more out there for them to do and be involved in and also your real excited about it and that's got to pass on to them as well. The

00:21:30.430 - 00:21:48.500

enthusiasm, yes, I I love what I'm doing. I absolutely love it. I can't imagine my life without doing this and how many hours a day are you in school? A minimum of 20 hours a week in training or in classroom training or I have an internship

00:21:48.510 - 00:22:01.390

right now working for an architect, so that counts in the 20 hours. Great. Tell us a little bit about your internship and what you're doing well right now. I I lack some basic construction experience. A lot of the people that I go to school with and

00:22:01.390 - 00:22:14.310

then I'm going to be competing with for jobs um have a background in construction practical experience. So um the architect that I worked for thought it would be a real good idea for me to observe construction in progress. So I get to do a lot of

00:22:14.320 - 00:22:29.950

that. I'm going to follow the construction of a complete project from the pouring of the foundation all the way through the framing um to onto the completion of the project? I get to do some manual drafting. Um I'm getting familiar with what it's like to work

00:22:29.960 - 00:22:45.210

in a architects office and why? What is that they do? Um And the part that uh the drafter place in the whole process and the different people that you have to deal with to uh make a construction project come to completion you know? Um And there's

00:22:45.210 - 00:23:01.370

a great many different occupations involved in that, you know, it's really an eye opener. Oh definitely, definitely. You mentioned that you're doing manual drafting. Will you move into computer drafting or have you already done that? I've done computer drafting at the junior college but this particular

00:23:01.810 - 00:23:21.270

internship, they're not using computers, they contract the drafting out to a computer drafting service. Deanna, let's talk about some of the women that you've been serving. Do you see major life changes for a lot of these women? Very much so. I think heather has spoken to

00:23:21.270 - 00:23:38.240

you about her experience and she's not untypical. Um and I think all of the 31 women that I have worked with, um I have seen all of them blossom as glorious that it's it's a wonderful experience. That's my joy is to see the growth that happens

00:23:38.240 - 00:23:56.100

to see them develop self esteem, develop confidence in themselves and you know, really to be able to go out and ultimately support their Children. It's very important, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about that. I know that this program benefits these women, but

00:23:56.100 - 00:24:12.770

how do you see it as benefiting the community at large? Well, you know, Dina, I think anyone who is an educated citizen who is working and making a stable wage is going to benefit all of us, I don't think anyone would argue with that and you

00:24:12.770 - 00:24:26.850

know, currently we're in a big hoo ha about what's going on with welfare. We see a lot of articles about we need to get rid of welfare Because it's eating up so much of our budget. You know, I think most people aren't aware that the welfare

00:24:26.850 - 00:24:44.520

budget nationally takes up 1-2% of our entire budget. And I think that, um, so I think that first of all, we're kind of blaming a lot of our problems on people in welfare. Uh, I think that's a pretty small amount of the budget actually, and I

00:24:44.520 - 00:25:05.970

think that the current agenda that is kind of run by the republicans is not a very useful way to promote helping people become self sufficient. Currently, the request is to get everybody into job search before they do any education or training. And what that means is

00:25:05.970 - 00:25:22.190

that if you have no skills, you're gonna end up working at McDonald's for $5 an hour. And the problem with that is that you really cannot begin to support 12 or three Children on $5 an hour. And so my passion really about this program is that

00:25:22.190 - 00:25:40.180

it provides a real means for all these people who were saying, or dragging us down to become self sufficient. And I really feel that if we would put some money into the kinds of training and education, we would see more and more people like heather who

00:25:40.190 - 00:25:53.970

benefit greatly from this program. Well, let's talk a little bit about your funding. You mentioned that you're funded by a grant and the grant maybe ending. I think you mentioned that. Could you talk a little bit about where your money comes from now and where you

00:25:53.970 - 00:26:13.290

see it coming from in the future. Sure, Well, this grant was, as I said, enacted by Congress in 1991 to amend the Job Training Partnership Act, which is the federal job training program in the whole country. And Congress set aside extra money for non traditional employment

00:26:13.290 - 00:26:30.460

for women. And that meant that they could get a longer training time. And that's really important in these kinds of programs so that you have this little bit longer to train. So there's extra money for child care. Um, and I think that ultimately we don't know

00:26:30.460 - 00:26:47.280

what's gonna happen, you know, with the current election coming up. Um, there's a lot of talk about the block grants coming in and so it's very confusing. Um, right now, as it stands, we have at least another year of the current kinds of funding. This grant

00:26:47.290 - 00:27:05.890

was just a three year grant, but it doesn't mean any w is ending. Um, it continues on as a mandate from Congress until that changes. So we're we're on and as I said, we now have money from Sonoma County from the the district Matea funds vocational

00:27:06.170 - 00:27:21.800

money to continue the program for people who may not even be eligible for pick services. I just wanted to reiterate how women can get involved with this program. Could you give us your phone number again? Sure. My phone number at the junior college is 5 to

00:27:21.800 - 00:27:38.640

41687. And maybe we could give the pick phone number as well, which is 5 to 46411. And if you call pick mentioned that you're interested in the N. E. W. Program. Do you ever get any men calling and saying I want to be in the N.

00:27:38.640 - 00:27:55.300

E. W. Program? And how do you handle that? Not so far. They must know ahead of time with your marketing communication that you're centering on women heather. If you could talk to women today about your past experience and what you're currently doing, what would your message

00:27:55.310 - 00:28:12.950

be to women about jobs and career? I think the best advice that I could give any woman out there in a situation similar to mine would be um to really think seriously about the career they're going to get involved in and what their needs really are.

00:28:12.960 - 00:28:26.750

I mean as far as the wage that they need to make to support their family um uh what kind of occupation is going to hold their attention so they'll be successful at it because I think that that's really important. If you get involved in something that

00:28:26.750 - 00:28:43.960

you're not um inspired by, then you're not gonna do well at it. I don't know. Other than that, I would just have to say uh to succeed. It just takes a lot of determination. Um I think that's the key, you can be the smartest person in

00:28:43.960 - 00:29:05.520

the world and most talented and if you don't have determination, you're not gonna get anywhere. Um That's I think we're really fortunate. In addition to perseverance, we also have a program like this that can assist women in meeting their challenges and their goals. Deana, anything that

00:29:05.520 - 00:29:24.380

you would like to say to women watching this program about um how you see this program in the future, helping them well, only that if you know, I would only suggest to women that they kind of open their eyes to all kinds of possibilities and not

00:29:24.800 - 00:29:39.070

just thinking the kind of traditional terms and come and talk to us and we'll help you kind of find your way. Great. Thank you heather. It's been a wonderful experience. Meeting you and learning about your story. Thank you, Deana. And we thank Gloria. You've been watching

00:29:39.070 - 00:29:49.310

Sonoma County in the nineties. I'm Gina Lash and I invite you to join us on each and every edition of Sonoma County in the nineties. Have a great week. See you next week. Thank you.