Los Angeles Urban League

The Urban Center for Entrepreneurship is designed to help local and smallminority-owned businesses thrive, by providing technical assistance, training workshops, and one-on-one consultation to business owners. Training and consultation is provided by seasoned entrepreneurs, professional business coaches, and guest speakers with expertise in finance, sales, accounting, and other disciplines. Workshops are co-sponsored by corporations, banks, community organizations, and other entities, like the SBA, that have a shared interest in increasing the financial literacy, business acumen, and scale of disadvantaged businesses. Training content includes: accounting; digital marketing; certification; loan readiness; contract readiness; and a variety of other topics aimed at helping owners to grow their businesses, earn higher profits, and hire more local employees.

Biz Camp, in partnership with the Network for Teach entrepreneurship (NFTE), is an entrepreneurial education program comprising about eighty teens aged 13-18. Each session includes instruction provided by paid professionals, plus guest speakers, executives who volunteer as business coaches and competition judges, and college interns; field trips to businesses and the Junior Achievement Financial Park; a Saturday Sales Day where student sell goods to the public and retain the profits; and a Business Plan Pitch Competition with a top prize of $750, followed by a graduation ceremony. In addition to learning practical business skills, students improve their financial literacy skills and are taught the volute of education, planning and strategy in their personal lives.Project Ready integrates academic enrichment support, socio-emotional education, and college and career readiness sixty middle and high school students throughout Los Angeles County. The three major components are 1) Academic Empowerment, 2) Social Emotional Learning, and 3) College and Career Readiness. Each part is set for explicit student outcomes guided by the Individual College Development Plan (ICDP), a guided assessment tool. The targeted population for Project Ready is students in grades 8 through 12 and undergraduate college students. Specifically, programmatic goals for Project Ready post-secondary success include ensuring students are exposed to post-secondary options to advance in life, are introduced to A-G requirements to be college-ready, participate in experiential programming such as college campus visits, attend the virtual education and career pathways series, learn and embrace the meaning of academic empowerment and develop social and emotional skillsets, secure an internship, and master financial literacy. Oceanography Camp, a component of our summer STEM education, is a 5-day residential education program conducted in partnership with University of California, San Diego Scripps College, San Diego Birch Aquarium, and Bridge Builders Foundation. This program provides thirty-five students with the opportunity to explore marine and expand possibilities in STEM education and career pathways in Earth-ocean systems, the life supports in our ocean planet.The Los Angeles Black High School Graduation event highlights Black and other minority students across Los Angeles to celebrate academic achievements and award scholarships for post-secondary education. Curated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was inspired to recognize students who would not have been able to enjoy graduation festivities in a traditional way. This event is designed to celebrate academic excellence, elevate the pursuit of vocational training as a post-secondary option, and give current and soon-to-be graduates insight into the multitude of great options that their figures can manifest. Since its inception, the event has featured inspiring profiles of Black graduates, highlighting academic all-stars, and sharing congratulatory messages from university presidents, celebrities, and community leaders.Total Education Program Expenses were $536,730.

In partnership with UCLA Health, the Urban League's Medical Assistant Certification program offers trainees ages 18 and up the opportunity to become certified Medical Assistants in 12 months, and guaranteed job placement at one of UCLA's nine hospitals and clinical sites. In addition, all Medical Assistants receive national certification as phlebotomists, and eligibility for the University Professional and Technical Employees union.Urban Leagues Backstage Careers is a workforce development program that provides training to under-resourced people to work in production for film, television, recording and live events. This program is targeted to young adults ages 18-35 who have left the foster care system or were formerly incarcerated for non-violent offenses. Participants receive hard skills training provided by LA City College that range from 2-day workshops to 18-month associate degrees. Additionally, Urban League facilitates soft skill training with the help of broadcast networks, live event companies and movie studios. Graduates receive production assistant opportunities or internship opportunities from our employing partners. Mentors and studio site visits are incorporated into the experience.Construction Career Academy (CCA) is comprised of a series of 10-week training courses for men and women with employment challenges, including those affected by homelessness; foster youth; formerly incarcerated men and women; victims of domesticabuse; and veterans. CCA trainees are prepared for careers in construction by a teamof union tradespeople who teach construction mathematics, practical skills, and soft skills, the combination of which allows trainees to take and pass exams to gain entry into skilled union trades. Trainees receive case management and supportive services including transportation allowances, work clothes and boots, tools, hard hats, and more. Upon completion of the training and achievement of a satisfactory union exam score, trainees are placed into full-time jobs or apprentice positions with local firms.Total Education program expenses were $618,870.