Safe Harbor: Urban Youth Workforce Project

Youth economic advancement

Central LA East LA South LA San Gabriel Valley West 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)

In response to the havoc wreaked by the recent firestorms in the Los Angeles area, Infinity Community Solutions (ICS) proposes a pay-it-forward project: retrofit an already-donated municipal bus as a means for expert tradespeople to supervise and mentor Los Angeles County high school students in a youth workforce development opportunity, where students work alongside trade professionals.
RETROFIT: Transform the donated municipal buses to become a mobile Safe Harbor Rebuild, Repair & Renew unit.
DEPLOY: The bus will focus on distinct areas of expertise; in support of construction trades and services.
TEACH: Trade-Based Mentors assess Rebuild, Repair, & Renew needs, design a response, coach participating youth workforce students, and together, engage residents who need and request Safe Harbor assistance.
Safe Harbor is guided by a pay-it-forward philosophy, deploying the bus to serve where the need is greatest to Rebuild, Repair, & Renew residential properties in trauma-stricken areas.

This is a request to fund the retrofitting of an ALREADY-DONATED municipal bus for the purpose of: 1) conducting career technical education in a well-designed youth workforce development program; 2) deploying the bus into neighborhoods where residential properties have been affected by recent extreme weather and other traumatic events.
STEPS FOR RETROFITTING include: Design layout of interior, Equip with tools to respond to identified Rebuild, Repair, & Renew needs, and Include 3D modeling and scanning equipment for damage assessment.
We engage expert professionals from the following trades:
vehicle repair and maintenance
welding
electrical
HVAC
plumbing
construction
architectural design
computer hardware/software design
medical/Safety skills
Once we complete the retrofitting, we complete the following steps:
RECRUIT: Students, Educators and trade-based Mentors for hands-on training opportunities to inspire future careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM), especially technical and trade-based fields. Engage primary partners: Southern California Occupational Center for student participants; Harbor Freight Fellows Initiative for Trade-Based Mentors; Columbia Memorial Space Center for Aerospace Engineering futurists.
IDENTIFY & ASSESS: EcoResilience Needs in Affected Local Communities to design effective responses for support and guidance to Rebuild, Repair & Renew.
COORDINATE with Disaster Recovery Agencies to form collaborative partnerships.

The aim of the Safe Harbor project is to build long-term ecoresilience in Los Angeles County communities throughout the coming year, October 2025- October 2026. SAFE HARBOR highlights COMMUNITY ECORESILIENCE by contributing to the capabilities to bounce back from the long-term effects of the devastating firestorms and other extreme ecosystem change events, such as floods, landslides, earthquakes, winds, and drought.
Funding this project installs the means is to create a sustainable youth workforce development program where youth are guided by trade professional mentors. Students participate in workspace job shadowing with Career Technical Education (CTE) teachers alongside STEM trade professionals to help build relevant teaching content and current innovative technology used in the field. SAFE HARBOR provides students with hands-on experiences in real-world work settings and seamlessly bridges the gap between academic learning and practical vocational skills.