Taller San José St. Joseph's Workshop

About Us

Mission Statement

Taller San Jose is an innovative Santa Ana program that walks young people out of poverty by offering the hope of a productive and self-reliant future.

History

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange established Taller San Jose in 1995 in response to the high rate of crime and gang violence among the City of Santa Ana’s youth and the lack of resources available to young people who had either dropped out of school or been incarcerated.

Today, Taller San Jose provides undereducated and unskilled young adults who have gotten off track in life with the job training and rehabilitation necessary to find employment at a living wage.

In Spanish, a “taller” is a workshop, a place to build and repair things. “San Jose” is Spanish for St. Joseph, the patron of workers. At Taller San Jose, troubled young people work to both turn their lives around and develop job skills for a brighter future. The program sets clear goals for students to help reduce the barriers to building productive lives, while instilling the values of reliability, responsibility and trustworthiness.

TRAINING PROGRAMS AND SUPPORT SERVICES

Taller San Jose is a highly focused, goal oriented program that helps students develop into self-reliant adults through three key job-training programs in Medical Careers, Office Careers and Construction. These workforce training skills as coupled with intensive job coaching activities from resume writing to job retention strategies and is reinforced with life skills instruction in financial literacy, healthy relationships, and numerous other personal development topics.

PROGRAM OUTCOMES 

Since 1995, Taller San Jose has helped more than 4,000 high-risk young adults to restructure their lives, finish high school and develop marketable skills. The program has consistently reduced criminal recidivism and increased youth success at securing living wage employment with corresponding health benefits.

Long-term life changes for Taller San Jose graduates include:

• 61% of graduates were placed in employment within 30 days of graduation.
• 1 in 5 graduates went on to apprenticeship or community college.
• 45% of job placements include benefits
• $11.26 – Average hourly wage for a Taller San Jose graduate
• 89% of graduates remain employed 12 months after graduation
• 92% with a criminal record did not reoffend

PROGRAM DEMOGRAPHICS

All young adults who enter Taller San Jose must:

• Be between 18-28 years old.
• Have right-to-work documents.
• Speak, read and write in English.
• Be able to pass a drug test.
• Have completed high school or be within 35 credits of completion (not mandatory for construction program).

Those participating in Taller San Jose’s workforce development program reflect the following profile:

• Median age is 23
• 58% of male students are currently on probation or parole
• 38% of students did not complete their High School Diploma
• 77% are unemployed
• 22% of female students are parents
• 17% of male students are fathers

Ethnic diversity:

• 72% Latino
• 13% Caucasian
• 7% Asian
• 3% African American
• 5 % Other