"Future-Forged: Trauma-Informed Tech Training for Returning Citizens"

Access to tech and creative industry employment

South LA Long Beach Gateway Cities

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

Los Angeles’s booming tech and creative economy has largely excluded justice-involved individuals due to incarceration history, trauma, digital illiteracy, and persistent hiring stigma. Most reentry programs fail to address these barriers with trauma-informed care or future-ready skill training. This exclusion deepens income inequality, reinforces cycles of recidivism, and prevents high-potential individuals from participating in LA’s innovation economy. To break this cycle, we must provide healing-centered, tech-focused pathways that prepare justice-impacted Angelenos for careers in high-demand industries and support long-term community resilience.

On My Grind Reentry Services Inc. will implement a 12-month Innovation Lab that trains 10 justice-involved Angelenos in trauma-informed 3D printing, AI-assisted design, and digital literacy. Participants will receive hands-on instruction, mentorship from credible messengers, and stipends that honor their time and engagement. SMART goals include: 80% program completion, 70% transition to employment or further training, and 100% demonstrating growth in tech competencies. Participants will complete capstone projects and curate digital portfolios to demonstrate applied learning.
This early-stage pilot is designed for replicability and scalability. Lessons learned will inform expansion to other high-barrier communities across LA County, and the model will be positioned for integration with public workforce boards, community colleges, and reentry collaboratives. By offering a new on-ramp to LA’s innovation economy, this project addresses income inequality, reduces recidivism risk, and builds a scalable model of equity, workforce readiness, and community safety.

If our work is successful, Los Angeles County will be a region where justice-involved residents are no longer excluded from the innovation economy but are recognized as contributors to its growth. Communities most impacted by incarceration will gain access to tech-based career pathways that offer dignity, stability, and mobility. The success of this pilot will demonstrate that when trauma-informed care is integrated with future-ready skill training, recidivism declines, public safety improves, and untapped talent thrives. Over time, this model can be replicated across LA County—transforming reentry from a cycle of survival into a launchpad for creativity, entrepreneurship, and equity-driven prosperity.