Tech Skills for Academic and Career Growth

Serving historically disenfranchised, underserved, low-income, foster care and juvenile justice involved youth in Los Angeles, EYMs’ transformative, education model integrates STEM based technical training (includes coding) with literacy and math enrichment to address learning gaps and career resources with AI integration. This grant will equip system-impacted, marginalized youth with continued academic remediation and 21st-century technology skills to enhance academic growth, career exploration and planning with AI integration.

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What is the primary issue area that your application will impact?

Access to tech and creative industry employment

In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?

South LA 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)

In what stage of innovation is this project, program, or initiative?

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

What is your understanding of the issue that you are seeking to address?

Underserved and system-involved youth face immense challenges that limit their potential. Many experience trauma, unstable living conditions, and low self-esteem, which create educational gaps and systemic inequities. This often excludes them from STEM education and workforce development opportunities. In Los Angeles, foster youth and low-income students have some of the lowest high school graduation and college enrollment rates in California. For youth in the juvenile justice system, barriers are even greater: disrupted education during detention leaves 75% performing below grade level in math and reading, limiting academic recovery and career prospects. Inadequate reentry support after release compounds these challenges. With 87% of these youth coming from Black and Latino communities, systemic inequities further deepen these obstacles, highlighting the urgent need for targeted programs to bridge the gaps.

Describe the project, program, or initiative this grant will support to address the issue.

For over 35 years, EYM has worked to empower marginalized youth through subject-specific interventions. Over time, we’ve learned that isolated approaches aren’t enough to meet the increasingly complex needs of today’s underserved youth. EYM has evolved into a forward-thinking organization, offering data-driven programs that integrate academic support with emotional, social, and career development. As technology and artificial intelligence transform the world, our mission has expanded to equip system-impacted youth with the tools to thrive, not just catch up.
This grant will fund two custom 16-week programs in Los Angeles that combine STEM-focused technical training, math and literacy enrichment, and career readiness resources, integrated with AI applications and culturally responsive practices. Designed for justice-involved, foster care, and underserved youth, the programs take a holistic approach to build technical proficiency alongside foundational skills for long-term success. With your support, EYM aims to close opportunity gaps, create equitable pathways to employment, and empower youth toward economic mobility.

Describe how Los Angeles County will be different if your work is successful.

This initiative has the potential to transform Los Angeles County by addressing educational and employment disparities among system-impacted youth. It equips participants with foundational academic and technical skills to break cycles of poverty, incarceration, and marginalization. Long-term scaling will expand the program to reach more justice-involved youth and open career pathways in high-demand tech industries. By fostering equity, reducing systemic barriers, and building holistic skill sets, this model empowers marginalized youth to thrive and contribute meaningfully to the local workforce and economy.
A key element of the program is its robust evaluation framework, ensuring accountability, continuous improvement, and measurable impact. Student progress and program outcomes are systematically tracked, with Key Performance Indicators aligned to Specific Learning Outcomes (SLOs). This evidence-based approach drives meaningful results and supports lasting change.

Approximately how many people will be impacted by this project, program, or initiative?

Direct Impact: 110

Indirect Impact: 300

Educating Young Minds

EYM alumni are attending and graduating from colleges from around the nation like Stanford, Cal Tech, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Los Angeles, Cal State Northridge, Clark Atlanta University, Columbia, Cornell, Dillard, Dickenson, Fresno State, Hampton University, Howard, Kentucky State University, Loyola Marymount, Morehouse, Northwestern, San Diego State, San Jose State, Santa Clara, Spelman, Syracuse, Tuskegee University, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA, University of Illinois, University of Kentucky, University of Pittsburgh, University of Puget Sound, University of the Pacific, USC, and Xavier. To truly express the impact of our programs, we would like to share the story of an EYM alumni in her own words: LaShia Ransom, EYM Graduate 1999 USC 2003, B.A. DEGREE, SCHOOL 2007, M.A. Counseling- Marriage and Family Child Therapy Founder Non-Profit "Enriching Communities" Once upon a time, I was known as a "selfish little girl with a horrible attitude", who at 14 knew everything and "didn't need anyone to tell me “Anything", until that one late evening when my mother found me sitting on my bed crying into my Trigonometry book, with my TI-82 in hand. My mom asked, "What was wrong?" With tears in my eyes, I looked at my mom for the first time feeling like a failure. I responded, "I don't know how to do this! I've failed my 2nd math test!" My mom felt the defeat and sadness in my words. She hugged me and told me, she would figure it out and she would get me some help. By the end of the week, my mother had found Educating Young Minds (EYM) and Ms. Echols in the yellow pages. I arrived at EYM, embarrassed to admit I needed help. (Please take note I had been an honor roll student since the first grade.) Asking for help was something I didn't know how to do. As my mother and I sat with Ms. Echols she looked at me, then at my mom, asking a lot of questions. I gave one word responses with the most negative attitude you could imagine. That's when Ms. Echols respectfully asked my mother to leave, no, she told her to get out of her office. What happened in that office I rather not mention today, just know that it was done with love and respect and I learned a lot of humility! The rest is history and was truly a blessing! Needless to say, not only did I pass my Trigonometry class, I became one of the first students to receive a scholarship from EYM in 1999 and graduated from USC with honors in 2003. In 2007, I graduated with a Masters Degree in Counseling- Marriage & Family Child Therapy. Today I am a very humble and proud wife and mother, who is employed with the Los Angeles County Probation Department as a Deputy Probation Officer II. Last year I co-founded my own non-profit organization, "Enriching Communities", to be an advocate for inner city youth suffering from substance abuse.

Organization website
educatingyoungminds.org
Learn about this organization’s budget, leadership and mission
charitynavigator.org

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