Over the past month, we checked in with our 2024 grantees to learn how their funded programs, projects, and initiatives are progressing – and to better understand the impact they’re making across Los Angeles. Now, we are excited to share these interviews, with stories of growth, challenges, and community transformation.

Kaimore received funding through the LA2050 Grants Challenge from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to support MarketReady, a workforce program for opportunity youth combining job readiness and entrepreneurial training. Below is an edited transcript of our conversation with their team.

LA2050: Your MarketReady program empowers Opportunity Youth to secure stable employment, creating a second income stream through their own meaningful side hustle. What has surprised you most about the way participants are engaging with the program?

Kaimore: MarketReady has taught us that no two participants are the same, and that’s been both the greatest challenge and the most rewarding surprise. Each youth we serve brings a unique set of circumstances: some are unhoused, others live in unstable households, and some come from low-income families with deeply supportive parents. These backgrounds shape how they engage with the program.

For some, there’s a strong desire to participate but a lack of resources, like transportation, makes it hard to attend in person. Others are able to show up regularly with the full support of their families. Some start out engaged but struggle with follow-through. Across the board, though, we've found that youth are eager to connect in person. That preference for face-to-face interaction has helped us build lasting trust and relationships, and it’s shown us just how critical in-person support is to our program’s impact.

To meet this need while honoring the diversity of our participants’ situations, we’ve adopted a flexible hybrid model. All our program materials are available online, and we provide additional support, like Uber rides, transportation stipends, and multiple workshop locations – to ensure everyone has the opportunity to fully participate.

We’ve also been consistently inspired by our participants’ enthusiasm for entrepreneurship. Even when their ideas are still forming, they show a clear willingness to think critically, explore financials, and identify their target audiences. Their creativity and energy push our team to innovate right alongside them. It’s been powerful to see how this mutual inspiration continues to shape and strengthen MarketReady as we grow.

LA2050: What role do relationships – both with peers and mentors – play in the program?

Kaimore: At Kaimore, relationships are central to everything we do. Our programs are designed to build a supportive ecosystem of peers and mentors, offering participants the social capital, guidance, and encouragement they need to thrive personally and professionally.

Peer-to-peer connections are built through career exploration days, internships, workshops, and pitch days. These dynamic, hands-on experiences foster collaborative learning, spark inspiration, and promote essential soft skills like peer support and networking – skills that are foundational to long-term success.

Mentorship is another cornerstone of our model. Each participant is paired with a trained mentor who provides consistent, supportive guidance throughout the program. Mentors are equipped with evidence-based practices, systemic equity training, and life coaching strategies tailored to transition-aged youth. They help participants navigate challenges, secure full-time employment, launch side hustles, build life skills, and receive feedback on assignments.

We’re intentional about mentor-mentee matches. Our multi-layered pairing system takes into account youth goals, mentor expertise, personality compatibility, and results from our proprietary Youth Adversity and Resilience Assessment (YARA). Inspired by the Positive Childhood Experiences study, YARA integrates indicators of trauma, systemic impact, and resilience to better tailor support to each young person’s lived experience.

Our mentorship model is grounded in the science of neuroplasticity and the transformative power of positive adult relationships. Research shows that consistent, caring, non-parental adults can improve long-term outcomes by fostering emotional resilience and confidence. At Kaimore, we believe every young person already has the internal tools they need to succeed. Our role is to walk alongside them, helping unlock that potential and disrupt cycles of generational poverty.

LA2050: What do you hope to achieve in the last six months of the grant, and how can the broader LA2050 community support?

Kaimore: In the final six months of our grant, Kaimore is focused on expanding reach, improving quality, and deepening impact through our Market Ready initiative. We aim to serve more transition-aged and at-risk youth across Los Angeles by enhancing our curriculum, increasing access, and strengthening job and mentorship pipelines.

Our key goals include: expanding access to engage more youth across the city, enhancing our curriculum based on feedback, ensuring it stays relevant and responsive to youth needs, and strengthening partnerships with local businesses to increase job placement and internship opportunities.

Our timeline for the coming months includes: wrapping up financial literacy cohorts, equipping youth with essential money management skills, launching career readiness programming in May, including one-on-one coaching, resume support, and interview preparation, and culminating in Business 101 and entrepreneurship training during our final Entrepreneurship Cohorts, empowering youth to explore and build their own ventures.

These efforts are designed to drive measurable outcomes: increased employment and internship placements, higher savings and financial empowerment among participants, and stronger confidence and clarity in career and business paths.

We invite the broader LA2050 community to support this work by connecting us with potential employer partners, helping spread the word about our programs, and sharing our youth stories to elevate their voices and achievements. With collaboration and shared purpose, we can create a more equitable, opportunity-rich future for young people across Los Angeles.

Interview Participant:

Joyce Lam, Executive Director