Clean Start Healing Hubs

Health care access

City of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a citywide benefit) Other LAUSD (select only if you have a district-wide partnership)

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

Unhoused and system-impacted youth in Los Angeles face enormous barriers to health care and mental health support. Approximately 10,000 children in the area lack stable housing, with 40% of students at a Skid Row elementary school being unhoused. This instability leads to chronic absenteeism, poor hygiene, and diminished self-worth, all of which adversely affect mental health and educational outcomes. At The Laundry Truck LA, we see how clean clothes restore dignity and school attendance, but this alone isn’t enough. Immediate, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed mental health interventions are crucial, and especially services that are delivered by trusted peers who understand their lives. Our Clean Start Healing Hubs meet this crisis head on, blending culturally responsive care with a Trainer of Trainers workforce model to build sustainable capacity in the community. These hubs don’t just meet immediate needs, they create a pipeline of care that strengthens our entire city.

This project includes three interconnected activities: laundry-based outreach, onsite wellness workshops, and a workforce development pipeline, all embedded in The Laundry Truck LA’s trusted mobile services.
Clean Start Healing Hubs build on TLTLA’s proven model of providing free laundry services that restore dignity for unhoused and system-impacted youth and families. While laundry is done onsite, Certified Wellness Coaches (CWCs) and Community Health Workers (CHWs) lead stress-reduction workshops, peer support circles, and offer warm handoffs to clinical care. These activities create a safe, trusted environment for mental health support to begin.
What sets this initiative apart is our Trainer of Trainers workforce model, developed with Full Bloom Group and El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center. Rather than a temporary intervention, we’re building a sustainable pipeline of trained community leaders, equipping CHWs and CWCs with the tools to carry this work forward and strengthen care access long-term.
By weaving mental health care directly into an already trusted service, we break down barriers to access, reduce stigma, and foster lasting change. Clean Start Healing Hubs don’t just meet immediate needs, they build a community-rooted foundation for healing, resilience, and opportunity, one clean start at a time.

Our Clean Start Healing Hubs pilot will transform how youth and families in Los Angeles access mental health care by meeting them with dignity and trust. Over the one-year grant, we’ll provide over 1,000 youth and families with trauma-informed support while laundry is done onsite, reducing stigma and building bridges to wellness. Long-term, our Trainer of Trainers workforce model will grow a sustainable, community-rooted pipeline of CHWs and CWCs. Ongoing funding for the workforce pipeline to be secured through CalAIM and CYBHI reimbursement models. If successful, we’ll scale this mobile, integrated approach to schools, shelters, and more across Los Angeles County, redefining mental health access for youth. Our vision is a healthier, more equitable county where every young person has a safe space to heal and thrive, one clean start at a time.