Expanding LAUSD Tech and Creative Career Pathways

Access to tech and creative industry employment

LAUSD (select only if you have a district-wide partnership)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Students, particularly from underrepresented communities, lack scalable access to career exploration and learning opportunities in LA's thriving tech and creative sectors. Informational interviews—where students connect with industry professionals—are an effective career exploration tool, but K-12 students face significant barriers accessing them. They lack professional networks, time, and skills to arrange meaningful 1-on-1 conversations with professionals. Safety concerns further limit direct interactions. For underserved students, these network gaps are especially pronounced, creating systemic barriers to career awareness. Without accessible career exposure, students' understanding of possibilities remains limited to their immediate environment. Technology and creative industry opportunities seem out of reach for underrepresented youth, perpetuating cycles where these high-growth, lucrative sectors remain inaccessible to communities that could benefit most from economic mobility.

Advize will scale our proven career exploration platform through three integrated components addressing systemic barriers while creating valuable employer partnerships. First, we'll hire 20 underrepresented LAUSD students as paid interns to conduct 500 virtual informational interviews using our proven "Advize 13 question formula" with diverse LA tech and creative industry professionals from key partner corporations like Snap. This teaches students interview skills while creating authentic career content. These interviews become ~6,000 short-form video modules covering career pathways, skills requirements, and industry insights.
Second, we'll partner with LAUSD to embed curriculum into class-wide programming at schools, allowing companies to build early talent pipelines while gaining brand awareness among students, parents, and teachers.
Third, we'll distribute comprehensive career curriculum to all LAUSD schools at no cost, ensuring equitable access. For employers, this creates measurable ROI: reduced future recruitment costs, improved workforce diversity, enhanced CSR profile, and early brand loyalty. Students exposed to careers early are more likely to pursue related studies, creating informed applicant pools. Our approach eliminates barriers while building sustainable partnerships benefiting students through career exposure and employers through talent development, democratizing career exploration for 500,000+ LAUSD students.

LA County can be where career exploration is democratized and equitable. Our 6,000 video library will become a permanent resource accessible countywide, inspiring thousands of students annually to pursue tech and creative careers, refreshed every three years with future employer funding after demonstrating success. LAUSD's systematic curriculum implementation will create sustainable pathways connecting 500,000+ students to LA's key industries. Students will select more relevant majors and career paths earlier with greater confidence, reducing career uncertainty and college dropout rates. Employer partnerships will establish ongoing recruitment pipelines, increasing workforce diversity while reducing hiring costs. Our alumni will provide peer mentorship and eventually return as interviewees, creating a self-sustaining cycle. LA will have a more diverse, prepared workforce in critical industries, while students from underrepresented communities will see these careers as achievable.