Support for Formerly Incarcerated Hollywood CPR Youth

Access to tech and creative industry employment

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

ARC works to improve community safety by providing formerly incarcerated people opportunities to thrive. The unemployment rate for formerly incarcerated people is nearly five times higher than the rate for the general population, and formerly incarcerated young people in California have a recidivism rate of roughly 60%. Mental health challenges have been shown to impact system-impacted peoples’ ability to obtain employment, maintain stable housing, and connect with a social support system – all factors that, when met, lead to reduced recidivism rates. This project will provide supportive services such as mental health treatment, case management, and scholarships, as well as student stipends, which are crucial because youth lack financial stability when they are released from incarceration. When youth return to the community, many struggle to pay for basic necessities. This funding will allow students to focus on their studies and career, rather than working or hustling to survive.

ARC’s Workforce and Education Coordinators and Tutors support formerly incarcerated youth in enrolling in West Los Angeles College’s Hollywood CPR program, a vocational training program founded by an IATSE Local 44 union member which employs union instructors that mentor students in the skills required for success in creative industries, educates students in more than 15 entertainment career specialties and provides a direct hiring pipeline to the most established entertainment unions in the region. Our Life Coaches provide credible messenger case management, wraparound services, and mentorship to youth participants. Our Clinical Wellness team provides youth with free therapy and socio-emotional processing groups to support their mental wellness. Support from the LA2050 Grant Challenge will allow us to provide youth with stipends while they are in school, so they can focus on excelling in their education and breaking into their chosen career path, instead of on survival. By supporting these students through their educational journey, this project will reduce recidivism rates and break the barriers to employment that formerly incarcerated youth face.

Our work as described in this proposal supported by the LA2050 grant will influence policy through our Members’ creative expression. It will help reduce crime and recidivism by helping formerly incarcerated people and their communities heal and be whole. It will also increase economic opportunity among low-income and communities of color and help close the overall wage gap between different communities in the county. It will add skilled workers to the LA County workforce, improving the region’s economy. This program will also help change the narrative around incarceration and elevate the voices of formerly incarcerated people to educate the public about mass incarceration, helping to drive policy change for a more progressive, equitable, and safer County. It will also strengthen all communities in the County by supporting the economic mobility of residents and helping formerly incarcerated people contribute to the local economy and support the economic stability of their families.

ARC has multiple methods to measure the impact of our programs and gather evidence that our services are successful. We use Neon Custom Client & Case Management Software to track our Members inputs and outputs including which ARC programs they participate in, and their endeavors in education and employment. Our Workforce & Education Department and case managers also help track outcomes due to their 1:1 relationships with Members. We define success as effectively supporting youth through their educational journey and well into their careers in the IATSE union. We will measure success by tracking the percentage of participants who gain jobs or union membership in the entertainment industry, as well as participants’ income levels pre- and post- participation in the program.