A New Chapter: Beginner Builders Youth Pilot Program
On August 23, 2025, Would Works officially kicked off our reimagined paid job training program in woodworking for youth experiencing homelessness, in partnership with My Friend's Place, along with funding support from Snap Foundation, Cedar-Sinai Grantmaking, and the Arlene & Michael Rosen Foundation.
From its beginning, Would Works' founder identified a critical gap in employment development programs and sought to fill it with a meaningful, dignified alternative that would empower individuals to (re-)gain their independence. The Beginner Builders Youth Pilot Program (BBYPP) is our response to the needs that we saw over the last 13 years working with people who are in transition, facing housing instability, employment barriers, and economic challenges.
BBYPP is a four-month program that is made up of two interconnected components designed to support lasting transformation.
The New Skills Training module teaches participants:
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Fundamentals of woodworking and tool fluency
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Safe navigation of a professional shop environment
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Technical literacy
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Career exploration
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Precision measurement, machine operation, and quality control
Rather than simply teaching traditional carpentry, the program builds competencies that prepare graduates for roles in manufacturing, construction, and technology-driven fields, fostering essential skills such as teamwork and problem-solving that ensure graduates remain competitive across an ever-changing job market.
Equally critical is the Healing Care module, which addresses the root causes of employment instability. This trauma-informed component offers:
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Social-emotional wellness support
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Case management
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Financial literacy training
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Daily hot meals
The program creates what participants describe as a familial setting that functions as a safe space led by supportive mentors and peers who understand the challenges participants face from lived experience.
WW’s dual-approach model is grounded in the understanding that traditional workforce programs often fall short by focusing solely on skills, while ignoring systemic barriers to employment. Our methodology considers adolescent brain development—recognizing that the prefrontal cortex continues to develop into the mid-20s—and provides developmentally appropriate support. With 85% of people experiencing homelessness having transitioned from youth to adulthood without adequate support, programs that address trauma, housing insecurity, mental health, and structural barriers such as criminal justice involvement, redlining, or hiring discrimination are essential.
The focus at Would Works is now towards proactive interventions to support individuals before they become persistently homeless. By providing job readiness programs that focus on both hard and core skills development, Would Works not only equips participants with marketable job skills but also enhances their sense of hope, self-worth, and long-term stability.
For those that experience housing and employment insecurity, change can feel impossible and barriers insurmountable. Yet when someone engages in the process of working with their hands, transformation becomes tangible and change is literally at their fingertips!
Thank you to both our local and national community for supporting us throughout the years to make this next chapter possible.
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Nick Offerman Partners with Would Works to Empower At-Risk Angelenos Through Woodworking
Beyond woodworking, Nick Offerman highlights the “incredibly benevolent and warm humanism” at the heart of Would Works. "We're giving people … mental health, counseling, job counseling, life coaching. It's a place to say, 'Come on in, I see you, I care about you, I recognize the trouble you might be having. Here's a sandwich, here's a bowl of soup. Now, this is a hand plane,'" Offerman said.
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