Hospitality Training Academy (HTA)

The Hospitality Training Academy (HTA) provides training for new hires or current/incumbent workers looking for promotions through improved job skills and work experience. The HTA is designed to improve Los Angeles’ tourism and hospitality industry by increasing the skill level of its workforce. The Academy, which officially kicked off in Spring 2010, provides courses specifically tailored to increase workers’ skills in a variety of areas, including culinary/cook, server, bartender, housekeeping, retail sales/customer service and Vocational English as a Second Language. The HTA grew out of the Diversity Task Force, a panel of industry, community, and labor leaders founded to promote opportunities for African American workers in Los Angeles’ top hotels and food service companies. Established in 2006, the task force quickly recognized that their work could not escape the broader context of the country’s deepening recession. As Los Angeles began to see record-high double-digit unemployment figures, experts noticed a bright light: nationally, tourism and hospitality remained a growth sector. From 2010 to 2011, hospitality employers added over 19,000 jobs in the Los Angele area—more than any other sector, including previously top-ranked international trade. This growth was consistent with the national expansion in tourism and hospitality of 12.8% between 2002 to 2009, with records predicted for 2012 and 2013 in the metrics of room and occupancy rates in Los Angeles. Today, the partnership behind the academy comprises hotel employers, labor, community colleges, workforce investments boards, and other city agencies. Most critically, it includes hundreds of new and incumbent workers who have honed their skills and brought their drives to succeed into their workplaces, increasing guest satisfaction and making Los Angeles a more competitive and attractive destination.