LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - November 11, 2010) - Local YWCA Greater Los Angeles (YWCA GLA) Job Corps students celebrated the Topping Out Ceremony for their new downtown Urban Campus yesterday. Dignitaries including Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas, City Controller Wendy Greuel and Councilmember Jan Perry saluted the youth and YWCA GLA executives by presenting ceremonial documents and signing the ceremonial beam.
Guests joined YWCA GLA CEO, Board of Directors, Senior Staff, Job Corps Students, Job Corps Staff, and project funders, including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Enterprise Community Investment, Broadway Federal Bank and LISC to sign the ceremonial beam and watch as a crane lifted it up with an American Flag and an evergreen tree.
YWCA CEO Faye Washington said, "Thank you to all of you who believed in this impossible dream. This Urban Campus is an example for my students that their motto is true. With faith, hard work and tenacity you can indeed Dream It, Own It and Build It."
The seven-story mixed use Urban Campus will feature a state-of-the-art library, dormitories, modernized health facilities, indoor lounges, computer and study rooms, campus-wide green spaces, kitchen, serving and dining facilities, classrooms, amphitheatre and executive offices for the YWCA GLA.
The YWCA GLA Job Corps program provides free housing, meals and vocational training to local youth ages 16-24 years old. Students are typically at-risk, previously homeless and emancipated foster kids. The two-year program nurtures youth who would otherwise be caught in a cycle of crime and poverty and provides a support system to enable them to learn a trade, social skills and life skills to become employable and self sufficient.
Event photos are available on Wireimage or by request. Handout tape is also available. To view event footage visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KphDqYzpNVc and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn8OLYD5KNQ.
To view supporting documents and/or photos, go to www.enr-corp.com/pressroom and enter Release ID: 277651