Two CSUF grads launch nonprofit to get kids off the street

A lot of companies start in a garage.

Aspiring entrepreneurs Branden Wells and Alan Cerna are looking for a garage. A big one.

The two men, who graduated from Cal State Fullerton in May with business degrees, are launching a nonprofit – Apprentice Builds – to teach at-risk high school students how to work on cars – getting the students off the street and giving them skills that can lead to employment.

After winning first place in this year’s CSUF Startup Competition, the pair have been building a team, gathering cars and tools, and raising money. They are working to secure a partnership with a local school district and the Boy Scouts to run a program to take the place of auto shop.

“We just saw an opportunity to do something we loved that we knew would help kids, and we had to develop a business plan for it that didn’t rely on government funding,” Wells said. “We wanted to be a separate legal entity that basically substituted for shop class but did more, with a mentor. They need that kind of stability and a person to look up to.”

Wells and Cerna know the kids they are talking about. They used to be those kids. Both grew up in Santa Ana – Cerna in the north and Wells in the south.  Sports gave them an activity, but sometimes that wasn’t enough to get them away from violence. Even at practice, gunshots would ring out or someone would get in a fight.

“But whenever you talked to someone about cars, it didn’t matter what economic or ethnic background you were; you were just a car guy,” Wells said. The two men realized there are kids in the community who have the same passion for cars they did but don’t have the same stability, mentorship or activity to keep them out of trouble.

Wells and Cerna met in a business calculus class at Mihaylo College of Business and Economics.

“I was talking about LS engines and Corvettes,” Wells said, “and Alan turns around and goes, ‘What?’”

Wells ran a car club that Cerna joined. Then, walking around campus (talking about cars) on a career expo day, the two stumbled upon the CSUF Entrepreneur Society. They became officers.

Both had side jobs: Wells helped his dad with his painting business; Cerna helped with his family contracting business and started a clothing line, Dos Ascentos.

But it wasn’t until they took John B. Jackson’s entrepreneurship class at Mihaylo that they learned the soft skills needed to start a business – such as whom to reach out to and how.

“We learned it all at the perfect time,” Wells said.

Now they are applying it.

The pair have leveraged their contacts from school and work. A student team worked on Apprentice Builds as a class project in a Mihaylo operations class. Two mentors for one of Jackson’s classes now serve as advisers for Wells and Cerna, and have introduced them to a grant writer who has, in turn, introduced them to other funding options. A client of Wells’ from his job at AutoZone, Wil Diaz, is working part-time for them as their lead mechanic mentor.

And at a CSUF startup competition, they met Robert Kollar, co-founder and vice president of Givsum, which allows charity volunteers to track their donations and hours, and reached out to him and Givsum CEO Shawn Wehan. Givsum is now fiscal sponsor to Apprentice Builds, allowing it to solicit donors until it receives its tax-exempt status.

“Their passion for cars and their sincere interest in helping the ‘at risk’ youth in Orange County struck me in the heart,” said Bob Godlasky, who serves on the Apprentice Builds advisory board. “I felt I could help them compensate for their lack of experience.” Godlasky has brought in expertise from his business and SCORE Orange County’s business network.

“They have the ability to pull it off,” he added. “They have clearly identified a major problem within our society, and in the automotive business world.”

Tony Pagano, another adviser, is lending know-how on nonprofits from his experience as a board member of Easter Seals.

“Not everyone wants to go to college, and high schools don’t teach wood shop or any kind of trades,” Pagano said. “I saw this as a very strong program that could help kids who really don’t want to go to school, but they have other interests, like cars. It will keep them out of trouble, teach them a trade, get them a job.”

He points out that Lost Angels Children’s Project in Los Angeles has a similar mission. Its founder, Aaron Valencia, was a 2017 CNN Hero.

The reason why Apprentice Builds looks good, Pagano added, is that the auto industry is very big and has a lot of grant money. If Wells and Cerna solicit the right companies, they’ll get donations to start, he said. Then the organization could become self-funded by selling cars the students work on. “The more cars they can resell, the money goes back into the nonprofit.”

But first they need a space.

Wells and Cerna are looking for about 1,400 square feet minimum – free, with reduced rent or with an understanding landlord – in  Santa Ana or Anaheim. The location has to be zoned for automotive work and allow work on vehicles until about 8 p.m.  A mechanic shop that has off-time is one option, said Pagano.

While they get up and running, they’re arranging to conduct workshops at hot rod shops.

While they secure a location, the two men are talking with the Santa Ana Unified School District, hoping to offer an alternative to auto shop classes, which most high schools no longer offer. They are also applying to do something similar through the Boy Scouts of America and are developing a curriculum with a team from Cal State Fullerton.

As they pursue their post-graduation day jobs – Wells with Reid’s Rod Parts in Orange and Cerna with State Farm – they are attending car shows and soliciting donations of cars, tools and other equipment, and volunteers. They have two classic cars already. They are also working on getting Automotive Service Excellence certification so their program graduates can get hired.

Among their classmates, many of whom aspire to launch startups and become commercial successes, Wells and Cerna are the exceptions in starting a nonprofit. Wells said the pair see it as the best way to reach out to more kids, since for-profit programs are too costly for their target audience.

“The more lives of kids we can change, the more kids we can get away from gang violence, the better,” Wells said. “A nonprofit is the best way to grow that.” Once the men get their program launched in Santa Ana, they hope to expand to other areas.

“In saying you’re a nonprofit,” added Cerna, “it makes it that much harder and that much sweeter, in the little victories you get when someone says they’re interested or like the idea.

“If the money comes, awesome,” Cerna added. “But make sure that when you wake up every day you enjoy it, and you want to wake up every day to do it again.”

Want to help?

To donate money, tools, cars or space or to volunteer services, contact Apprentice Builds at givsum.com/charities/apprentice-builds