| Los Angeles Mission College (LAMC) is helping to establish a workforce development in the Northeast San Fernando Valley of California. Most of the Valley lies within the City of Los Angeles, and is an extremely large metropolitan region with a population of 1.6 million. LAMC is focusing its efforts particularly on the community of Pacoima and the immediate surrounding cities of Sylmar, San Fernando, Arleta, Lake View Terrace, Panorama City, Sun Valley, Sunland, and Tujunga.
Pacoima is the second largest industrial area within the City of Los Angeles. It is part of Los Angeles's Federal Empowerment Zone, and is a Targeted Neighborhood Initiative Area within the City, a State Enterprise Zone, and a Small Business Administration Historically Underutilized Business Zone. With 29 percent of its residents living in poverty, Pacoima also is the poorest community within the San Fernando Valley. Roughly 70,000 people reside in Pacoima, approximately 80 percent of whom are Latino immigrants, and 40 percent of whom are under the age of 18. The population is family-centered, with the numbers of school-aged children, large or extended families, and young adults all significantly higher than the national level.
Close to 5,000 manufacturing firms are located in the San Fernando Valley, making it the fifth largest manufacturing region in the country. The Northeast portion of the Valley is characterized by many small firms that primarily are in the health services, metals manufacturing, and foods manufacturing and foods service sectors.
Like the rest of the Valley, Pacoima has its roots in agriculture. More recently, industrial disinvestment and plant closures have left most of the land in Pacoima either vacant or underutilized, and few new jobs have been produced to replace those that have disappeared. What jobs are available in Pacoima tend to be short-term and in low-technology industries, and usually offer minimum wage with no benefits.
Pacoima has a very high level of unemployment, as high as 14 percent in some neighborhoods. One-third to one-half of adult residents have not completed high school. Forty percent of Pacoima's youth live in poverty, more than 40 percent of Pacoima's families earn incomes under $15,000, and 75 percent have no healthcare. A single parent heads more than 25 percent of the households and approximately 20 percent of all residents do not speak English.
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