Last month, UNITE-LA joined regional partners at the Opportunity Youth Systems Change Demonstration Project Spotlight event to share lessons learned from a collaborative effort to strengthen health care career pathways for opportunity youth across Los Angeles. Over several months, cross-sector teams explored where pathways break down for young people navigating financial barriers, disconnected systems, unclear processes and limited access to support. The work revealed an important insight: many of the challenges young people face are not individual barriers, but system design issues that make even strong programs difficult to access and complete.

As part of the project, UNITE-LA's My Pathway to Health team examined how these barriers affect participants pursuing allied health care careers. Through research, reflection and collaboration with partners, the team identified another key challenge: many young adults already possess valuable transferable skills from previous roles in industries such as hospitality, retail and security, but often struggle to recognize how those skills apply to health care careers.

In response, the team developed a new skills toolkit and workshop curriculum designed to help participants identify, articulate and confidently communicate their strengths through resumes, interviews and conversations with employers. The resources will be integrated into this summer's My Pathway to Health program, helping participants better prepare for careers in allied health care. This work reflects UNITE-LA's commitment to both improving systems and creating practical solutions that help young people access high-demand career opportunities.