BURBANK, Calif. — From a checkered past to a custom auto industry career path, 30-year-old Frankie Servillo spent more than a decade behind bars for robbery and gang charges.
Now, he’s one of 13 formerly-incarcerated students taking part in the first-ever Los Angeles County Justice Care and Opportunities Department and West Coast Customs Training Academy, where they’re learning how to custom build a car from the inside-out through the 12-week program.
“I was in there for 12 years. It was just a long time, you know? And it was enough time for me to open my eyes and realize that once I do touch down in these streets, I need to find something and I need to pursue it,” Servillo said.
Ret. Judge Songhai Armstead, who is also the director of LA County JCOD, convinced West Coast Customs CEO Ryan Friedlinghaus to give the formerly incarcerated students a chance.
In return? He’s also training the future workforce he said he needs.
“I was trying to build a school to give kids a path that were coming out of high school that didn’t have wood shop and auto shop like I did when I was a kid in high school,” Friedlinghaus said. “Then, working with these students from JCOD has really changed my thought process on the whole thing because honestly, these are the students that we need for our industry because these people want to work.”
The program is available for those impacted by the justice system and foster care system, and upon graduation, students will receive a Certification of Completion in Automotive Customization and Restoration.
Armstead said this is just one of many reentry programs JCOD offers to help individuals build a stable income, skills, and a pathway out of the justice system.
“It’s a trade that they can learn quickly, it pays well and it’s not one where people have to do a strenuous background check before they are employed. It’s one where we can still provide wraparound services for them and I think that’s one of the great things about what JCOD does is that while they are being trained, we pay for their training and we pay them to be trained, right? So, they get a stipend while they are here,” Armstead said.
Once the build is complete, the car will be sold with proceeds going back into the program for the next round of students, Armstead said.
It’s a process that’s shaping Servillo’s career path with his goals.
“This program has given me the opportunity in the custom world and, personally, as an artist, I love it. This goes hand in hand with what I do,” he said.
The Cohort will graduate on May 1.
Applications for Cohort 2 are now accepted for the summer session.
