In May of 2021, SLATE-Z joined with CDTech’s Public Ally Program to develop the South Los Angeles Nonprofit Career Apprenticeship Program. The South Los Angeles Nonprofit Career Apprenticeship Program is designed to strengthen families, generate civic participation, and provide economic sustainability to support South Los Angeles youth struggling with a multitude of different social and economic stressors, namely in the wake of COVID-19. In effort to stimulate economic activity and inspire workforce development, the South Los Angeles Nonprofit Career Apprenticeship Program will invest in 50 Local “Disconnected” Youth Leaders (aged 18-25) serving South Los Angeles nonprofits by providing them career apprenticeship opportunities within the nonprofit sector. To fulfill the mission of this program, SLATE-Z connected with partners CDTech, Youth Source, EWDD and Work Source as sponsoring organizations to oversee the development of the program. Through Federal AmeriCorps workforce development and college education grant, CDTech’s Public Ally Los Angeles program plans to provide an array of workforce preparedness tools. Not only will the program’s 50 youth leaders gain real-time workforce experiences, they will also receive:
- Over 200 hours of nonprofit professional development training to help acclimate participants to the expectations of the non-profit sector
- 120 hours of Leadership development training, which features cultural awareness and competency, intersectional identity, race power and privilege, gender, social and racial justice, facilitation, effective communication, community outreach, community asset mapping, community-based action research and more.
- Community College enrollment in up to 9 Community College and Cal State transferable units in the Community Planning and Economic Development program at LATTC and over 1,000 more hours of training related to public service training and workforce preparedness.
- Alumni leadership coordination
The 26 partners matched with an Ally apprentice program will also provide post-apprenticeship training and support services to increase the opportunity for retaining employment.
The direct placement of youth into the nonprofit sector aligns with existing SLATE-Z workforce training initiatives funded by JP Morgan Chase to provide pathways into technology, health and construction careers. SLATE-Z’s hope is that apprentices take the skills, knowledge sets and education attained and apply it to the private, public, and nonprofit sectors going forward, opening a direct connection into the nonprofit for local young adults to earn, learn and give back to their communities hit hard by the pandemic.
The South Los Angeles Non-Profit Career Apprenticeship Program Promotion