Pain into Purpose: Butterfly’s Haven Workforce Development Program

Youth economic advancement

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit) City of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a citywide benefit)

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

Butterfly’s Haven’s (BH) Pain into Purpose (PiP) program is rooted in the belief that sustainable employment is a pathway to empowerment, economic mobility, and housing stability. TAY face overwhelming challenges: lack family support, financial resources, job readiness, and access to culturally responsive mental health care. They are expected to “adult” without the foundational tools to succeed, resulting in cycles of poverty, housing insecurity, and justice system involvement.

BH supports TAY through our Ready to Fly Rent Subsidy Program, providing transitional financial support to residents moving into permanent housing. We gradually reduce financial assistance, helping participants become financially independent. For the program to succeed, BH must provide workforce development to ensure residents can contribute to their rent, become financially stable, and gain independence. Co-locating PiP with housing eliminates barriers to services in a trusted and trauma-informed environment.

The Pain into Progress (PiP) workforce development program, co-located and integrated directly into our housing programs, supports TAY residents with practical tools, a renewed mindset, and access to job training that leads to employment, certification, and stability. TAY residents, ages 18-24, many of whom have children, are learning the cadence of earning a paycheck and prioritizing rent payments for the first time. We guide them through this often challenging process, ensuring that they are working towards financial stability and independence in a supportive and trusted environment.
Impacting 30 participants annually in 2 cohorts, the 13-week PiP offers modules in wellness and lifestyle management (20 hr), career exploration and networking (20 hr), professional soft skills (50 hrs), and technical skills (40 hrs) in two fields specifically requested by our TAY residents - cosmetology/barbering and hospitality/culinary arts - ensuring strong buy-in. BH Life Coaches lead classes such as “Mindset Reset,” “Professional Persona & Visioning,” “Resume Building and Job Search Lab,” “Interview Skills,” “Digital & Financial Literacy,” “Work Ethnics & Exit Planning,” and “Stress, Triggers, & Emotional Intelligence.” Technical skills training is led by industry partners (Chef Keith Corbin of Alta Adams, and LA Trade Tech). Participants receive a stipend for time in class. As services are co-located with housing, BH Life Coaches mentor and support participants beyond the 13-week course.

Young people navigating trauma, systemic oppression, and generational poverty need more than just job training — they need community, healing, and identity-affirming opportunities.
If our work is successful, LA County will see more young adults—especially former foster youth and justice-impacted individuals—living with purpose, financial stability, and emotional resilience. Instead of cycling through housing insecurity and unemployment, these youth will be trained and employed in family-sustaining careers, and empowered to lead. Our model turns pain into purpose by embedding healing, mindset shifts, and workforce training while in transitional housing. Long-term, we will scale this workshop across Butterfly’s Haven sites and partner organizations, offering it as a countywide standard for life skills and trauma-informed workforce readiness. Our vision is a generation of young people no longer surviving crisis, but shaping the future with clarity, confidence, and career pathways.