Improving Economic Opportunity Through Volunteerism and Workforce Training

Jan 05, 2011

EILEEN LANGE: Boyle Heights is a very underserved community. People do not have a lot of healthcare insurance. I find that the community is one of the reasons I work here. White Memorial Medical Center has been around for over 90 years. We are the largest employer in East Los Angeles Boyle Heights. We have about 1,800 employees and we have 400 volunteers. Health care is one of those industries that is growing, especially in this recession. So the volunteer program to me is critical because it gives young people an opportunity. What the Bank of America grant has really helped us to do was to take those dollars and put it all in the workforce development.

GARRET GIN: White Memorial is definitely seen as an anchor to that Boyle Heights community. It’s not a facility that can be moved to another neighborhood. Those services cannot be outsourced to another agency. So our anchor gift to White Memorial has done a number of things, ranging from improving their volunteer efforts, workforce development programs, to bring people from that community into the health care industry.

CYNTHIA MARQUEZ: In these four years, I’ve seen so many things, helped many people. It makes you feel good at the end of the day that you helped someone in some way.

BRENDA RENTERIA: When I started volunteering here, and my god, it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. I saw how there’s doctors and how you can still work within the hospital and still you know work with children or work with families and their stories and I just love that. And now I want to become a doctor in family medicine.

GARRETT GIN: White Memorial has a lot of people who are interested in knowing more about them, but how do you convert an interested person into a volunteer? And then how do you convert a volunteer into a community leader?

EILEEN LANGE: One thing that is special about White is that they’re very big on promoting people internally. Jennifer is a young lady who started here as a volunteer. The volunteer experience really helped her to see that she kind of liked health care. She works for us now on a clerical basis.

JENNIFER LIMON: I started off as a volunteer, and I volunteered for a year and a half. And after that, I just started working in different departments. It’s within my community, it’s where I live, it’s where I come from.

GARRETT GIN: We really believe that neighborhood excellence is really sort of the aspiration that we need to have. Neighborhoods need to be vibrant, they need to be strong. And the only way to make that happen is to partner with key institutions.

JENNIFER LIMON: White Memorial, it feels like a home to the community, it feels like family. The reason why I joined the volunteer program was to give back to my community, was to help out where I come from.

Boyle Heights is an emerging community in East Los Angeles, which has long been a gateway for immigrants to the United States. Today, it is home to a large population of young, working class Latinos. Many residents lack education and health insurance. Their connection to White Memorial Medical Center, an anchor of the Boyle Heights neighborhood for 97 years, develops in times of severe need.

Other residents have a much stronger relationship with White Memorial, which is the largest private employer in East Los Angeles. The hospital has 1,800 employees and 400 volunteers, most of whom live in and around Boyle Heights. The recruitment of local students and adults to the volunteer program was initiated in 2006 as part of a $1 million gift from Bank of America. In addition to bringing people into the health care industry, that funding has improved the facilities at White Memorial.

“Neighborhood excellence is really the aspiration we need to have,” said Garrett Gin, SVP for Global Corporate Social Responsibility at Bank of America. “Neighborhoods need to be vibrant. They need to be strong. The only way to make that happen is to partner with key institutions."

Jennifer Limón started as a volunteer at White Memorial. The single mom from Boyle Heights was uncertain about working in health care, but she soon developed a passion for the job and the institution. Now Jennifer is employed as a clerk across several departments, which she considers family. And she is proud to report that her 10-year-old daughter aspires to be a nurse and give back to her community.

“The volunteer program is critical, because it gives young people an opportunity to look at the benefits the health care industry provides and find out if they want to continue their education or do an entry-level position and work their way up,” said Eileen Lange, manager of recruitment and retention at White Memorial. She is committed to hiring, training and promoting people from within the community.

The gift from Bank of America also supports continuing education for current hospital staff. White Memorial University, for example, has a monthly class for promising young talent.

No matter their connection to White Memorial, the people of Boyle Heights consider the hospital a safe and respectful place. Its volunteer and workforce development programs are helping to solidify that reputation for the future.

Improving Economic Opportunity Through Volunteerism and Workforce Training

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