Education & Vocational Training

Codetalk trains low-income women in computer coding skills to help them obtain employment in the tech sector. For more information click here.

Culinary Training Program educates low-income adults in food service and life skills to help them obtain jobs. For more information click here.

Early Learning Center (ELC) provides children 18 months to 5 years old the opportunity to learn, grow, and become self-sufficient, independent learners in a nurturing and socioeconomically diverse environment. For more information click here.

Food Pantry provides low-income, housed families, and individuals with supplemental groceries and workshops designed to increase wellbeing and support progress toward self-sufficiency. Our Food Pantry provides nutritious foods including fruits and vegetables using a “Choice Model” that allows people to select their own food items—including proteins, specialty items, and fresh produce—in a supermarket-style setting as opposed to receiving pre-packaged bags of groceries.

The goal of the Food Pantry is to distribute supplemental food to help clients prepare healthy meals throughout the year and to enrich their lives through workshops offered throughout the year that can help improve health and wellbeing. If you need food assistance, please contact our Food Pantry at 310-396-6468 ext. 313 to make an initial appointment.

The Veteran’s Representative Payee Program provides at-risk adults and veterans (respectively) with case management, money management, financial literacy classes, and help in finding and maintaining housing. A representative payee (in this case St. Joseph Center) receives a person’s public benefit (such as social security insurance or veteran’s compensation ) and ensures that these benefits are first used to meet basic needs and then to establish some form of savings. VRPP serves homeless veterans, many with mental health and/or substance abuse issues. Support services provided include socialization and life skills training with a goal of moving veterans toward increased stability and self-sufficiency so that they will eventually be able to manage their own finances.

Based on more than two decades of pioneering work in the money management field, St. Joseph Center has developed and implemented a comprehensive program at VRPP that provides money management education, case management services, and housing assistance. A 1997 study conducted by a UCLA Veterans Administration research psychologist found that St. Joseph Center’s Veterans Representative Payee Program saves taxpayers $1 million annually by dramatically reducing participating veterans’ hospitalization rate.

The program’s goal is to target homeless veterans to assist them in meeting a basic needs.