Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti kicked off the Abilities Career Fair at the Los Angeles Abilities Expo 2017, held on Friday, March 24 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Abilities Expo is a nationwide set of large-scale exhibitions focused entirely on the wide variety of services, products, advocacy and activities for the disability community.

As the primary coordinator of this City's expo, the City of Los Angeles Department on Disability partnered with the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles Workforce Development Boards to co-sponsor the very First Annual Job Fair portion of the event.

Jobseekers met with 28 employers, offering job openings in a variety of fields and positions.

Mayor Garcetti introduced the guest speaker, Candace Cable, who spoke of the profound life-changing circumstances when she was first introduced to an Abilities Expo and the myriad of opportunities the event offers. Ms. Cable is a nine-time Paralympian and is Vice-Chair of the LA committee to bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games back to Los Angeles in 2024.

Mayor Garcetti noted the career fair was a part of the City's workforce development strategy to focus on job seeker populations which are under represented in the regional workforce. He thanked WDB Chair, Charles Woo, for the formation of the specific outreach efforts led through the WDB's Task Force on Under Represented Populations.

Volunteers assisted job seekers with mock job interviews, resume writing and employment search activities. The volunteers were staff members from the WorkSource Centers/America's Job Centers of California, the City of Los Angeles Economic and Workforce Development Department, the City of Los Angeles Personnel Department and the Los Angeles County Workforce Development, Aging and Community Services.

Jan Perry, General Manager of the Economic and Workforce Development Department, encouraged all the attending job seekers to visit a local WorkSource Center and to visit the JobsLA.org job search engine.