OXNARD : College Gets Job Grant for Women

Oxnard College has received $50,000 in federal grant money to fund a program aimed at helping women with low skills and education complete classes to help them find jobs.

The money will be used to provide counseling and develop career goals for about 60 divorced women and single parents, said Priscilla Partridge de Garcia, coordinator of the program.

The funding will be targeted specifically for women suffering from low self-esteem, poverty and a lack of education and job skills, she said.

Each participant in the Re-Entry Program will first be evaluated to determine the level of education, interests and job aptitudes, de Garcia said.

They will then be guided into academic and vocational classes that will help them land jobs, she said.

The goal is to make the women self-sufficient, she said.

Oxnard College officials applied for the grant through the state community college chancellor’s office.

The money is supplied by the federal Vocational and Applied Technology Educational Act, officials said.