LA:RISE - Los Angeles Regional Initiative for Social Enterprise

LA:RISE is an innovative, collaborative partnership that unites the City and County of Los Angeles’ Workforce Development System with non-profit social enterprises and for-profit employers to help men and women with high barriers to employment get good jobs and stay employed. The program connects employment social enterprises to the workforce system, supportive services, and employers, allowing all partners to bring their expertise and resources to the table. LA:RISE has expanded from 10 to 38 partners across the County of Los Angeles and provided transitional employment to over 7,500 Angelenos.

After working in a transitional job at a social enterprise and leveraging training and services from the WorkSource Center, LA:RISE participants are placed in permanent jobs in the private or public sector. Upon placement, they work with a retention partner for up to one year, who acts as a safety net against potential barriers that can emerge on their path to self-sufficiency.

Job Readiness Assessment
A standard tool implemented across all social enterprise sites to ensure that all referred candidates are job ready. The use of this assessment tool creates consistency and provides assurance to employers that no matter which social enterprise they source from, they will receive a quality referral from the LA:RISE program.

CalJOBS^SM
Job search platforms that host data tracking systems allowing all LA:RISE partners to communicate efficiently with each other. By integrating social enterprises and personal support providers, these portals have significantly improved communication and case management across multiple sites.

Beyond Co-Location
WorkSource Center partners are not just physically co-located at the social enterprise site — they are integrated into the program and organizations. Individuals from both of these agencies are seen as one seamless team, providing customer-centric case management to all LA:RISE participants.

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Social enterprises are competitive, revenue-generating businesses with a clear social mission: to hire and train people who are striving to overcome employment barriers including homelessness, incarceration, substance abuse, mental illness, and limited education.

Social enterprises provide real, paying jobs and wraparound services that help employees stabilize their lives, build their skills, and succeed. When employees are ready, social enterprises help them find lasting, competitive jobs. And because social enterprises reinvest their profits back into their businesses so they can help more people, they require less outside funding and are more sustainable.

Independent research conducted among the social enterprises in REDF’s California portfolio confirms this impact.


Working Better Together

Traditional workforce development systems have not integrated social enterprises and personal supports as strategies to address the overwhelming needs of homeless and reentry populations. At the same time, businesses across the country are challenged with finding skilled workers.

With the passage of the Federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which requires government-contracted workforce agencies to serve populations with barriers to employment, there was a catalyzing opportunity to foster collaboration between the social enterprise field, the workforce system, and employers to improve the long-term success of this population.

LA:RISE is an employer-driven pathway with multiple partners that work together efficiently across the lifecycle of each participant’s engagement.


  PROJECT LEADS


  SOCIAL ENTERPRISES


  WORKFORCE AGENCIES


  RETENTION PROVISION


  COMPETITIVE “BRIDGE” EMPLOYERS