SER-Jobs for Progress, Inc.

SER-Jobs for Progress, Incorporated was a non-profit community based organization serving as the Western Comprehensive Employment and Training Center (WCETC), whose primary mission was to provide education, training, job placement, and other supportive services to residents of Western Maricopa County outside the city limits of Phoenix. SER, which provided all services under the auspices of the Job Training Partnership Act (JPTA) of 1982, was under contract to the Maricopa County Service delivery area (SDA).

The name SER indicates the organization's three primary factors: Service, Employment, and Redevelopment. It began in 1964 as a volunteer community job service but expanded during its nearly twenty years of activity into a national network. SER-Jobs for Progress, Incorporated, was sponsored by the League of United Latin-American Citizens (LULAC) and the American G.I. Forum. Its foundation lay in a desire to enhance employability across the board for all economically disadvantaged people. It accomplished this goal by setting up satellite groups centered in five major economically disadvantaged geographic areas. These groups structured community bases and programs, from which the economically disadvantaged could receive job counseling, training, and education. The result of their work was the reduction of unemployment and increased job career potential previously lost to insufficient formal education and lack of technical skills.

The problem of unemployment was not, of course, confined to the economically disadvantaged. Unemployment, however, still affected the economically disadvantaged more than the rest of the population. Generally, SER was set up for the unemployed or displaced worker who was either unskilled or under-skilled. This formula was most exact in the cases of younger workers. Without skills, and lacking the education necessary to understand or communicate a task, inexperienced youth had only a slim hope of placement. The lack of readiness and inability to show a prospective employer desirable skills were an embarrassment and sometimes a tragedy. SER attempted to provide training in a cost effective way while still providing the highest possible quality of life to its participants.

In its first 19 years, as a provider of services to the disadvantaged, SER assisted over 8,000 people in developing skills and identifying new purpose in their lives; the combination of skill development and the personal goals of responsibility, productivity, self-sufficiency, and independence. SER was proud of its record of success in the operation of manpower programs in Western Maricopa County. The program's performance reflected a qualified professional staff, realistic objectives, and consistent effort toward unsubsidized placement. They were also proud to report that more of their trained participants stayed on the job with their original employer than was the case with people trained and placed by any other community.

SER's philosophical direction and related program goals were determined by a Board of Directors, who represented a variety of community groups and resources. In addition to support from the Board of Directors, they were assisted by the Amigos de SER. The Amigos, a formidable affiliated group, consisted of corporations that provided business services and funds for the support of the SER program. Their support gave SER another dimension that federal funds could not provide. In fact, with the withdrawal of federal funds over the years, the Amigos became even more active in their service to SER. With affiliated groups like the Amigos, youth programs, and education/training programs, SER taught unskilled, undereducated, and unemployed individuals how to be more prosperous and productive and how to become part of society's mainstream.

Additionally, as a manpower function, SER was linked with other economic, community, and social development programs. SER provided implementation of innovative programs designed to address the needs of the people; a continuity of services to those residents who were familiar with SER and recognized SER as an effective provider of employment and training services; data evaluating the success rate of ongoing services utilizing up-to-date innovative techniques; involvement in the business community in the planning and implementation of their services; and a proving ground for many pilot projects.

In conjunction with its manpower function, SER provided outreach, classroom training, on-the-job skills training, vocational training, personal counseling, job development, self-directed job search, and other support services. In 1980, SER established a comprehensive vocational-academic assessment component, which provided vocational evaluations and career counseling to SER participants. In an innovative and creative approach toward providing academic/vocational education to their participants, SER developed a cooperative agreement with Glendale Community College in 1982 for the purpose of establishing an open entry-open exit clerical training block for at least 25 student seats. The clerical training curriculum included word processing and data entry for a 16-week period. The SER students would enroll as freshman and enjoy all the amenities that every GCC student had access to. After graduation, each of the SER students was certified as a clerical typist (as least 45 wpm) and had earned ten college credit hours.

As a job placement resource, SER continued supplying the skilled manpower needed in the labor market in an effort to meet the demand for trained, motivated employees. SER successfully placed new employees with city, county, state, and federal agencies as well as in a host of business and industries through the Valley.

It was SER's purpose to build a stronger economic community, enhancing the quality of life for all of society. Toward this end, SER established productive working relationships with hundreds of Valley employers both large and small. Many of the employers served on a special business advisory council known as the aforementioned Amigos de SER. The Amigos de SER organization stressed the following mutually beneficial functions and activities:

As labor market trends changed, SER changed their efforts to serve their participants and support employers by promoting more education in non-traditional occupational areas and helped to meet the demand of affirmative action goals required of private industry by federal regulations. SER had a proven track record and promised to continue to provide outstanding services to residents of Avondale, Buckeye, El Mirage, Cashion, Glendale, Peoria, Goodyear, Sun City, Gila Bend, Litchfield Park, Tolleson, Surprise, Wickenburg, and Youngtown. Theirs was a program of people serving people, united in spirit for the betterment of society.

Eventually the toll of politics and changes in administrations brought about decreases in funding for the War on Poverty programs, originally initiated by Lyndon B. Johnson. SER and the local Phoenix office gradually spend the what funds were available until they had to start closing down operations. There are currently no SER offices in Arizona, but SER National continues to thrive as a private nonprofit corporation that helps Hispanics and other underserved people achieve economic freedom and self-sufficiency through employment, education, and empowerment. They accomplish this goal by supporting and providing oversight to a network of affiliated agencies that offer effective, culturally competent, inspiring educational and workforce development programs in the neighborhoods in which they're needed the most.

Sources: SER Fiscal Proposal for 1984, SER Records and the SER National website http://www.ser-national.org/ .