Program matches500 with city jobs
More than 500 people were matched to summer jobs through a Little Rock youth program.
The Summer Youth Employment Program, sponsored through the city's Department of Community Programs, pairs people ages 16 to 21 with summer jobs across the city. Each participant is paired with a mentor and the goal of the program is to give the youth support while training them in life skills and workplace etiquette.
"The program provides basic work skills development for Little Rock's future workforce," programs coordinator Marq Golden said. "This program also gives a boost to our local economy. Participants receive a firm foundation of knowledge in preparation for Little Rock's work environments and have an opportunity to put their acquired knowledge into practice."
Group to presentstudy on prejudice
The Arkansas Psychological Association will present the results of its study on discrimination of disenfranchised groups in the workplace July 2, the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.
The organization reviewed the effect of discrimination at work based on race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation and religion. A representative will deliver a statement on the study 6 p.m. July 2 at the Mosaic Templar's Cultural Center at Ninth Street and Broadway in Little Rock.
Attendees are asked to RSVP at www.ualr.edu/race-ethnicity.
Awards will be presented to Terrence Roberts, one of the Little Rock Nine and a psychologist, and posthumously to Brownie Ledbetter for her work with the Arkansas Public Policy Panel.
Sponsors include the city, the cultural center, the governor's office, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, Philander Smith College and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
20,000 expectedat taekwondo expo
An estimated 20,000 people are expected to swarm Little Rock in a few weeks for the 24th Annual World Expo Taekwondo conference.
The competition, training and conference is July 7 through 13, sponsored by the American Taekwondo Association. The association is celebrating its 45th anniversary. Attendees are expected from all over the United States as well as South Africa, South America, Europe, Australia and South Korea.
The Tournament of Champions starts July 11. Students compete in divisions based on age and belt rank, and aim to be named one of the top 10 in their division. The competitions start at 8 a.m. at the Statehouse Convention Center. A three-day pass is $10.
Utility approveslist of contractors
Little Rock Wastewater Utility has approved a list of contractors that it will draw on for small projects throughout the year without going through the traditional bid process.
Howell Anderson, interim director of utility operations, told the utility's governing body Wednesday that the Engineering Services Division requires outside professional assistance from time to time because of capacity or expertise issues.
To get around the cumbersome task of issuing a request for qualifications and going through the bid procedure outlined in state law each time a small contract needs to be awarded, the utility decided to issue broad requests for firms to be added to an "on-call list" for certain categories.
Those categories were: mechanical, electrical, environmental treatment process, environmental surface water, civil, structural, hydraulic modeling, geotechnical, construction administration, sanitary, value engineering, safety occupational health engineering, architecture, surveying, material testing, construction inspection and landscape architecture.
The Little Rock Sanitary Sewer Committee -- which oversees certain operations and finances of the utility -- approved the selection of Garver or CDM Smith to be used for the general engineering projects as needed throughout the year and for the top-ranked firm of the specific professional services categories to be used. Those firms are Garver, Grubbs and McClelland.
Metro on 06/22/2014