Los Angeles County
Our Work in Los Angeles
Advancing Excellent Skilled Trades Education in L.A.
The Los Angeles region is facing great construction demand due to wildfire rebuilding needs coupled with a preexisting affordable housing crisis, transportation challenges and infrastructure upgrades to prepare for the 2028 Olympics.
Yet the region is already experiencing a skilled trades workforce shortage, the product of an aging and rapidly retiring workforce, and the lack of pipelines to prepare young people for these jobs. Today, fewer than 1 in 5 high schools in L.A. County offer any type of skilled trades education.
We are working with community leaders to help answer the urgent question all of this poses: Who Will Build?
Empowering Students Through Hands-on Training
We launched Los Angeles County Skilled Trades Summers in 2021 to offer young people the opportunity to learn the trades and graduate high school with a foundation and life skills for these career paths. Each summer hundreds of students from across L.A. get paid while getting intensive hands-on training and earning valuable credentials in skilled trades, such as construction, welding and solar panel installation.
Program Snapshot
The Latest
We are proud to support Pasadena City College’s vision for creating a regional skilled trades hub for high school and community college students anchored by a state-of-the-art Career and Technical Education center. The RISE Initiative—Rebuild and Invest in Skills Education – is designed to train the next generation of skilled professionals who will not only restore what was lost in the devastating wildfires in L.A., but also lay the foundation for a stronger, more resilient workforce and future.
Our 5th year of the Los Angeles County Skilled Trades Summers will serve the largest cohort of students yet, with over 600 students across ten programs. Other highlights include two new partners - Pasadena Community College and Long Beach Community College - to build pathways from high school and college to careers, as well as a new partnership with Bell High School, our first LAUSD school partner.
The nonprofit Farkas Duffet Research (FDR) Group conducted an independent evaluation of the Los Angeles County Skilled Trades Summers. More than 90% of student participants and parents surveyed would strongly recommend the summer program to others, saying it provided valuable life and career skills. The evaluation found that the program motivated students to further their education, broadened their thinking about career paths, and prepared them for future education and careers in the skilled trades. More than eight in 10 students said they are more excited about their future after participating in the program.
