San Francisco -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today visited the Charity Cultural Services Center's (CCSC) 'Skills for Life' program, a program for which she secured $400,000 in the 2005 omnibus spending bill.

"These funds will help Charity Cultural Services Center expand programs that provide job skills training to San Francisco's recent and low-income Asian immigrants, and ease their families' transition into life in a new culture," Pelosi said.

CCSC provides tuition-free employment training and job placement assistance to low-income or unemployed recent Asian immigrants with limited English proficiency. Participants train in one of more than twenty career paths ranging from culinary arts to construction industries.

More than 300 individuals apply for the 70 spaces in CCSC's Culinary Academy each year.  This funding will help expand the Culinary Academy to enroll 126 participants per year.

In addition, this funding will support the creation of a culturally and linguistically sensitive Ironworkers Union Certified Pre-Apprenticeship Program to help meet increased demand for skilled ironworkers due to the Chinatown Central Subway Extension.  Pelosi also secured $10 million for the subway extension in the 2005 omnibus spending bill.

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