Throughout the past month, we checked in with our 2025 grantees to learn how their funded programs, projects, and initiatives are progressing – and to better understand the impact they’re making across Los Angeles. Now, we are excited to share these interviews, with stories of growth, challenges, and community transformation. [Find each of their stories here.]

The Forestry & Fire Recruitment Program received funding through the LA2050 Grants Challenge from the Goldhirsh Foundation to support its work creating career pathways for formerly incarcerated individuals and other underrepresented community members in wildland firefighting and forestry. Below is an edited transcript of our conversation with their team.

Interview Participants:

Chief Royal Ramey, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder

Cari Pang Chen, Chief of Staff

Eboni Nash, Chief Development Officer

LA2050: The Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program is creating pathways for formerly incarcerated individuals to transition into careers as wildland firefighters. How does expanding access to these careers help address both workforce inequities and the growing need for a more resilient fire response system in Los Angeles County?

The Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program: This work is about bridging two urgent needs at once: addressing barriers to meaningful employment for people impacted by incarceration and helping meet the growing demand for a stronger, more diverse workforce to prevent or suppress wildfires. Many of the people we serve already have firefighting experience through California’s conservation camps, but face major barriers when trying to turn that experience into long-term employment after release. Others are coming from similarly underrepresented communities and are seeking access to stable careers that have historically been out of reach. Our model helps close that gap by combining training, supportive services, and direct pathways into the field. Our paid training program and transitional work opportunities create a more realistic on-ramp into the fire service, while also helping participants gain certifications, build confidence, and move toward family-supporting careers. At the same time, expanding access to these roles helps strengthen the broader fire response system in Los Angeles County by increasing the number of trained professionals entering a field where demand remains high.

LA2050: Your work sits at the intersection of reentry, workforce development, and climate resilience. As you’ve supported participants through training and case management, what challenges have you encountered, and what successes have you seen in helping trainees move toward long-term economic opportunity?

The Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program: One of the biggest challenges is helping participants prepare not only for the technical demands of the work, but also for the cultural realities of entering the fire service. For many trainees, that means learning how to navigate environments that may feel unfamiliar, including rural settings, predominantly white workplaces, and the paramilitary culture that shapes much of the field. The physical demands of the work can also be significant, and the waiting period for state or federal job placements can create another difficult transition. In response, our model emphasizes mentorship, case management, and long-term support. Lived experience shapes the program’s approach, helping staff anticipate common triggers, prepare trainees for workplace realities, and support them before challenges become setbacks.

At the same time, we have seen strong signs of success. This is not just about helping someone secure one job, but about introducing them to a long-term career pathway with opportunities for advancement, stable income, and retirement benefits. Paid training stipends help participants stay focused on the program full-time, while the Buffalo Hand Crew creates transitional work and real-world experience that strengthens resumes and job readiness. We also stay connected to graduates through alumni and employment support, helping them navigate seasonal work, off-season opportunities, and next steps in their careers. One of the most meaningful outcomes of our programming has been helping more people of color and more women enter the forestry and fire space, creating both economic opportunity and visible representation in a field where both are still needed.

LA2050: What do you hope to achieve in the last six months of the grant, and how can the broader LA2050 community support?

The Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program: In the final six months of the grant, we are focused on graduating participants through our career training program and continuing to amplify the urgency and importance of this work. We have a strong desire to be even more vocal about the need for community-based organizations to play a central role in workforce development, public safety, and climate resilience, especially as fires continue to affect communities across California. It’s important to us to stay connected as a broader ecosystem of organizations. In their view, community challenges are interconnected, and organizations working across different issue areas have a lot to gain from sharing knowledge, resources, and referrals.

The broader LA2050 community can support this work not only by continuing to uplift our model model, but also by creating more space for grantees and community-based organizations to connect with one another. Bringing organizations together to discuss current challenges, successes, and opportunities for collaboration could help strengthen the field as a whole. For the team, that kind of connection is part of what makes long-term impact possible: not only supporting one organization’s work, but building a stronger network of leaders and partners across Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: The Forestry & Fire Recruitment Program