Lost Angels receives honor from Wilk
LANCASTER — Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, has recognized Lost Angels Career Center as Senate District 21’s Nonprofit of the Year.
At a celebration event on Saturday, Wilk joined the Antelope Valley community in honoring Lost Angels and presented the organization’s founder, Aaron Valencia, with a California Senate Resolu- tion.
“What Aaron and Lost Angels have accomplished, and continue to build, is remarkable. Through good old fashioned hands-on work, Lost Angels helps disadvantaged youth feel empowered, find their calling, and land a mortgage-paying job,” Wilk said. “Aaron’s story of turning his life around is an inspiration, and his mission to invest back into the Antelope Valley is 100% worthy of recognition.”
Lost Angels Career Center is a nonprofit serving disadvantaged youth, families and distressed communities through innovative vocational training, social enterprise, and traditional outreach programs.
Executive Director and Founder Aaron Valencia is a custom classic car builder who creates award-winning cars. He also has a passion for help- ing youth, which stems from his own difficulties growing up and experiences with drugs and jail.
After turning his life around, Valencia pursued a passion for classic cars and started his own custom car restoration business. Prior to starting Lost Angels, he volunteered at Grace Resources as a Hot Meal Leader for several years. He then came up with an idea to help disadvantaged youth by teaching them how to work on classic cars.
In 2014, Valencia founded Lost Angels as an afterschool program to engage at-risk youth through mentorship and skills training in classic car res- toration.
For his efforts, Valencia won the CNN Hero award and has been featured on “The Jay Leno Show,” Miller’s “We Build,” Tekton Tools’ “Find What’s Real,” and Lowrider Magazine’s “Roll Models.”
Vocational training skills Lost Angels offers include welding, bodywork, 3D printing and plasma cutting.
Employer partners include Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, NASA and Stratolaunch. In addition to teaching its students vocational skills, Lost Angels teaches them soft skills such as interview preparation, financial literacy and budgeting, and professional etiquette and behavior.
Valencia’s goal is to provide young people with the tools they need to succeed and help open doors and opportunities that improve their quality of life. He thrives on teaching and empowering youth in our community to rise above their circumstances.
“It’s amazing to see what our youth have been able to accomplish over the last 10 years,” he said at Saturday’s event. “I’m grateful every day for the opportunity to uplift young people and help them realize their value.”