Equity Unleashed Fellows Program

Youth economic advancement

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)

LeadersUp is committed to advancing youth employment and economic mobility in Los Angeles. However, deep-seated structural inequities and systemic barriers continue to disproportionately limit access to opportunity for BIPOC young adults—especially within high-growth sectors. Too often, their voices are missing from workforce development planning and decision-making processes, resulting in policies and programs that fail to reflect their lived experiences, aspirations, or needs.
When BIPOC young adults are excluded, critical perspectives on culturally responsive education, equitable training pathways, and inclusive hiring practices are overlooked, perpetuating cycles of marginalization. To close this gap, we must reimagine economic development by centering the voices of those most impacted. Equity Unleashed aims to disrupt this status quo by empowering BIPOC youth as co-creators and changemakers within the very systems intended to serve them.

Equity Unleashed is a participatory action research fellowship designed to engage BIPOC young adults in Los Angeles as co-researchers, advocates, and policy influencers. Rooted in equity and lived experience, the program builds youth capacity to investigate, design, and drive systemic economic change from the ground up.
Each Fellow will:
Build Capacity: Receive targeted training in economic justice, policy analysis, and community-based research to develop critical leadership and technical skills.
Lead Participatory Research: Conduct community engagement activities that surface insights across six dimensions of economic empowerment: Learner, Worker, Consumer, Saver, Entrepreneur, and Community Member.
Co-Design and Advocate: Collaborate with peers, employers, and policymakers to shape a Regional Economic Empowerment Agenda, grounded in community input and designed to influence public policy and private-sector practice.
Fellows will engage in the full research-to-action cycle, ensuring their insights lead to tangible change. By the end of the program, participants will not only gain valuable experience—they will emerge as trusted community experts and advocates for inclusive economic growth.

If successful, the Equity Unleashed Fellows Program will shift the trajectory of economic equity in Los Angeles. The program will elevate BIPOC young adults from passive recipients of services to active architects of the regional economy. Their voices will inform policy, reshape institutional practices, and influence investment in workforce systems that truly reflect the diversity and strength of Los Angeles.
By building power with and for BIPOC youth, we will catalyze lasting change: increased economic mobility, stronger community resilience, and a generation of civic leaders committed to advancing inclusive growth. The ripple effects will extend beyond the Fellows themselves—informing a new model for equitable economic development rooted in shared leadership and co-creation.