New job center closes

After 3 weeks, temporary facility at OCC is shuttered. Organizers still searching for permanent labor site.It’s time to shut up shop again for Costa Mesa’s job center. A privately run site that matches day laborers and contractors opened Jan. 9 in a trailer at Orange Coast College, but its temporary lease ends today with the center still searching for a permanent home.

Local business, church and community leaders organized the private center, called the Center for Resources and Employment Opportunities, to fill the void after the Costa Mesa City Council voted in 2005 to close the Job Center the city had run for 17 years.

The city initially opened the Job Center to stem residents’ complaints about workers loitering and soliciting jobs around Lions Park and elsewhere in the city. These days, complaints about day workers often focus on whether they’re legal residents of the U.S.

When the city’s facility closed Dec. 31, the private group set up a phone system for people who need workers. That’s still operating and will continue after the temporary center at OCC closes today, said Crissy Brooks, executive director of Mika Community Development Corp. Brooks has been a driving force behind the new, private labor center.

The OCC spot was never intended to be long-term -- school officials agreed to lease the space during the winter break, which ends Monday. Since the center has been there, Brooks said, about 30% to 40% of workers have found jobs on any given day. It’s about the same success rate as the city’s Job Center, but fewer workers have used the OCC site, she said.

As an alternative, some workers have called up old bosses, while others have continued to seek jobs near the closed Job Center at Placentia Avenue and 17th Street.

Plans for a permanent labor center are elaborate and include English classes, job skills training and help for those who want long-term jobs.

But a location is still the missing piece.

With the OCC site closing today, some who have used it aren’t sure where they’ll go.

‘We don’t know right now,” job seeker Moises Morelos said Thursday.

The Center for Resources and Employment Opportunities phone line is (949) 764-1528.

It’s suggested that employers try to call the day before workers are needed and leave a message about how many they want. Labor center organizers will return the calls.