Union Pacific Railroad partnered with LISC in 2018, investing $3 million to connect unemployed and underemployed workers to LISC Financial Opportunity Centers (FOCs) in four cities nationwide including Los Angeles. The funding supports connecting low-income residents to careers in the Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics (TDL) industry. According to the LA Economic Development Corporation’s Report on the TDL Sector in Southern California, this industry is on the rise as the San Pedro Port Complex (Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach) continues to grow and expand impact across the region. The Complex handles more containers per ship than any other port complex in the world.

• The average annual wage in the trade and logistics industry in 2015 was $63,130, approximately 14% higher than the average wage for all other industries in Southern California.
• Over the next five years, an expected 21,430 new job openings will be created and an additional 69,910 replacement workers will be needed due to employment churn.

On this Changemakers LA episode, we discuss the goals of the partnership and the successes we’ve seen so far. We are proud to have Union Pacific, CRCD and MAOF join us to discuss how they’re connecting low-income residents to living wage jobs.

Our guests joining us for this episode are:

• Treasure Owens, Financial Coach at Coalition for Responsible Community Development (CRCD)
• Ken Kuwamura, Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition and Manager Excellence at Union Pacific
• Isaias Hernandez, Community Development Director at the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation (MAOF)

In this episode, you will learn:

• More about Union Pacific’s Building Tomorrow’s Workforce initiative
• What CRCD and MAOF’s career pathways look like for the clients they serve
• How we are addressing barriers for low-income residents to compete for today’s middle skills jobs

Learn more about LISC and the work we do on our website at https://www.lisc.org/los-angeles