Project MAP (PMAP) for Tomorrow’s Movers and Shakers

Income inequality

Central LA West LA San Fernando Valley East LA 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)

Los Angeles is teeming with entrepreneurial spirit! Street vendors, mom-and-pop shops, service workers, nonprofits, grassroots advocacy groups all pursuing their ambitions. However, many lack the technical infrastructure and systems knowledge to grow their impact or business reach. Despite decades of persistence, systemic barriers often prevent them from scaling, resulting in economic stagnation that becomes a barrier in itself.
Simultaneously, young people are leaving high school without a clear path forward. College is not always viable, due to grades, financial pressure, or different interests. Many are drawn to trade and service fields but lack access to formal skills training. This disconnect, skills and real economic opportunity, is key. Project management, a universal skill behind every product, business, and system, is not taught in our communities. From scaling a food cart to launching a campaign, this knowledge provides the framework to move from survival to sustainability.

Project MAP is a new project geared towards reentry populations in Los Angeles. Through support from the Amity Foundation and a Youth Probation grant, we work with system-impacted youth and adults using a comprehensive, wraparound model. This begins with mental fitness services that address psychosocial barriers to meaningful employment. Participants undergo assessments of physical and mental health, housing and food stability, legal responsibilities, and support networks. Assessments inform individualized plans that include work maturity development, vocational guidance, industry-specific training, networking, and job placement. Crucially, participants also receive formal instruction in project management. This approach transforms entry-level roles into leadership pathways, shifting individuals from laborers to planners, from doers to organizers.
PMAP will extend these opportunities to youth and adults not connected to the justice system. This program provides, culturally grounded course and equips participants with the language, tools, and confidence to lead in nonprofit and business settings. Case-based, collaborative instruction simulates real-world projects and challenges students to act as project leaders. Even if they do not pursue formal PM roles, they gain skills that raise their value and impact across sectors. PMAP is the missing infrastructure for community-driven economic mobility, taking raw energy and converting it into disciplined, sustainable growth.

Ultimate success means the emergence of a large, organically developed pool of community-based project managers, trained from within the neighborhoods they serve. These individuals will not only bring technical capacity, but also cultural fluency and trust. Over time, they will establish a uniform project management approach that allows for seamless collaboration across microbusinesses, grassroots nonprofits, and public interest efforts. By building a common language and structure for planning and execution, these project managers will intensify the outcomes of joint ventures, accelerate community enterprises, and expand grassroots advocacy. This vision replaces isolated "hustle" with collective power, anchored in discipline, efficiency, and shared strategy. Upon full employment of the PMAP, disenfranchised communities of Los Angeles County will become better equipped, more competitive, and experience a transformation that will represent a socio-economic elevation from the bottom up.