A Fighting Chance Wellness Apprenticeship Pilot

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

Long Beach County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

Opportunity youth in Los Angeles—especially those impacted by foster care, homelessness, or the justice system—face significant barriers to employment, healing, and long-term economic mobility. Traditional workforce programs often overlook the trauma, stigma, and disconnection that many of these young people carry. At the same time, LA’s wellness and behavioral health sectors are growing but lack diverse, lived-experience talent. A Fighting Chance seeks to close this gap by offering a trauma-informed pathway into fitness and peer support careers. By combining healing with skill-building, the program addresses both youth unemployment and the need for culturally responsive care workers.

The A Fighting Chance Wellness Apprenticeship Pilot is a one-year program designed to prepare 50 opportunity youth in Los Angeles for careers in trauma-informed fitness and behavioral health. Targeting youth impacted by foster care, incarceration, or homelessness, the pilot blends personal healing, skill-building, and paid on-the-job experience.
Participants begin with trauma-informed training that includes movement-based wellness, peer support skills, emotional regulation, and basic behavioral health education. Youth are supported by certified trainers and mental health professionals from Maple Counseling and Minority Psychology Network, with access to individual therapy, group sessions, and mobile wellness services.
After training, participants begin paid apprenticeships hosted by Fighting Chance Recovery, where they assist in detox, residential, and outpatient programs. Youth apply their skills in real-world settings, supporting others in recovery while building experience in peer support and fitness-based roles.
LAUNCH Apprenticeship Network provides technical assistance to align the pilot with long-term apprenticeship pathways. Dream North Foundation contributes case management and youth coaching throughout the program.
This initiative creates a pathway from lived experience to leadership in LA’s wellness and care sectors—addressing unemployment, mental health needs, and equity for underserved youth.

If successful, this pilot will establish a replicable model for transforming opportunity youth into wellness and peer support professionals rooted in lived experience. Los Angeles will gain a more diverse, trauma-informed care workforce, equipped to meet the mental health and recovery needs of its most vulnerable communities. Participants will move from disconnection to employment, becoming leaders who stabilize others while building their own futures. Over time, this approach can reduce youth unemployment, interrupt cycles of trauma and incarceration, and expand culturally competent care across LA County’s wellness, fitness, and behavioral health sectors.