Jack is a pillar of the Los Angeles community with more than four decades of experience in industrial real estate. Jack leads one of the top commercial real estate brokerages in Los Angeles, Team Cline, and currently serves as President of the new Lee & Associates Downtown Los Angeles office. Jack serves on the Board for several local non-profits, including the AltaMed Foundation, the largest federally qualified healthcare organization in the country, The BFC, one of the top three SBA 504 lenders in the country, and is currently a Commissioner for the Business and Industry Commission for the City of Vernon. Cambria is a public relations and marketing professional and a passionate advocate for education and youth empowerment. She serves on the board of directors of five Southern California organizations and is an active volunteer and supporter of several other local nonprofits.

In his role on the AltaMed Foundation Board, Jack hears about many community needs and has a personal goal of finding and supporting unique causes to make a difference. He learned through AltaMed’s Workforce Development initiative that many high school students were entering college but not staying enrolled—they simply weren’t prepared. That sparked Jack and Cambria’s interest. After a year-long study, they determined that a program to combat this problem needed to start at the high school level, not when the students were already in college.

The Clines approached Colonel Garth Massey of CommandReady to help develop the curriculum for the program. Massey’s company specializes in delivering comprehensive leadership development programs designed to empower individuals and organizations. Garth created a high school level curriculum that was designed to help students enhance their personal skills, gain real-world experience, explore potential career and education paths and be competitive in the 21st century marketplace.

Jack then approached the leadership of the AltaMed Foundation to partner with the program, since AltaMed was a trusted name in the community with strong partnerships with LAUSD schools, and a willingness to serve as an incubator for the program. Youth Champions was then launched in 2017. It was also important to the Clines that the program be offered at no cost to the students, so that underserved youth would have access to resources, hands-on learning experiences and opportunities often lacking in their communities.

The Clines funded the initial program with a personal donation along with contributions from several of their friends. The budget for the first year of operations was $209,000, and 30 students were served from three high schools in the East Los Angeles area. Between 2017-2021, Youth Champions has provided more than $100,000 in scholarships to the top graduating seniors to help them with their college experience. In 2022, Youth Champions changed its business model and became an educational internship, where the students can earn up to a $1,000 stipend each year, based on their participation in the program. Youth Champions has grown tremendously over the past six years and has served more than 1,000 students from 60 participating high schools to date.

Youth Champions is now ready to grow as an independent nonprofit organization, to amplify our impact and broaden our reach beyond Los Angeles. We received our independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in November 2023, and an independent Youth Champions Board of Directors has been appointed. We continue to work closely in partnership with AltaMed to create a seamless transition to ensure a strong 2023-2024 school year for the 259 students enrolled from 34 high schools. We are grateful to AltaMed for its major role in helping to get us to this point. We look forward to deepening the experience and providing even more underserved youth in California and beyond with this solid foundation for personal development.