CREATECreating Belonging, Building Power
This grant will support Reach Our Community Kids in expanding its holistic community center model in Eagle Rock. The model includes an after-school program, a youth-staffed coffee shop, a free community fridge, and a new wildfire renter relief initiative. Together, these programs create a safe and empowering space where youth and neighbors can access resources, build job skills, and contribute to housing justice. Investing in this work strengthens a trusted hub where community members can grow, heal, and lead.
What is the primary issue area that your application will impact?
Youth economic advancement
In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
East LA
In what stage of innovation is this project, program, or initiative?
Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)
What is your understanding of the issue that you are seeking to address?
In Los Angeles, too many young people from working-class families are entering adulthood without access to meaningful work, stable support systems, or safe spaces to grow. Youth unemployment remains persistently high, and when people do find jobs, they are often low-paying, temporary, and disconnected from future opportunity. At the same time, our communities are facing overlapping crises- rising housing costs, food insecurity, and climate-driven disasters like wildfires, which create even more instability for the very youth we aim to support/
The core issue is a lack of sustained, community-rooted pathways for youth economic advancement. Offering short-term programs is not enough; young people need consistent spaces to learn,earn, and lead, surrounded by mentors and resources that treat them with dignity and care.
Describe the project, program, or initiative this grant will support to address the issue.
This grant will support Reach Our Community Kids in expanding and strengthening our community advancement hub. This holistic, place-based model prepares youth for economic independence while offering critical support to the broader community in times of instability.
The community advancement hub we've built is not just a service center, it's a vibrant, youth-powered ecosystem. Located in the heart of Eagle Rock, our space combines four interconnected programs that address the structural barriers young people face in Los Angeles.
Youth employment and training. through our nonprofit coffee shop
Academic and emotional support through our after-school program
Food security and mutual aid through our community fridge
Disaster-era housing justice through the new wildfire relief initiative.
Together, these programs respond to our community's layered needs while empowering youth as active contributors,not just recipients.
Describe how Los Angeles County will be different if your work is successful.
If our work is successful, Los Angeles County will have a replicable, youth-powered model of community advancement rooted in trust, equity, and opportunity. Young people will have local access to meaningful employment, mentorship, academic support, and food security,all within a space that sees them not as problems to fix, but as leaders to uplift.
Communities will have stronger support systems to navigate housing instability, disaster recovery, and daily economic pressures. Instead of fragmented services, families will connect with trusted hubs like ours, places that respond quickly, build relationships, and grow resilience.
Most importantly, success means a shift in narrative: a barista becomes a changemaker, a student becomes a mentor, and a renter becomes a community advocate. Our model turns everyday spaces into engines for justice and belonging.
Los Angeles will be more equitable, connected, and prepared because youth will be at the center, not the margins, of its future.
Approximately how many people will be impacted by this project, program, or initiative?
Direct Impact: 310
Indirect Impact: 1,000