You don't need experience. You need a seat.
Four programs that teach what nobody taught you: how money works, how your phone works, how AI can work for you, and how to get hired. In person or virtually, in Los Angeles, in plain English.
Pick a program, or take the whole pathway.
Every course ends with the thing actually done: the account opened, the resume that passes the screen, the budget live on your phone. We do not use quizzes as proof of learning.
Money Basics
For starting from zero, when nobody ever taught you how any of this works.
Who it's for
Anyone starting over with no account, no credit or damaged credit, and a month where every dollar has three jobs. Youth, adults, people coming home, seniors, and people leaving a relationship where someone else controlled the money.
You walk out able to
- Hold a real bank account and run it from your phone
- Read and fix your own credit report
- See your month before it happens
- Know what you owe the court and what you do not
- Spot a scam before it costs you
Courses
Level 1: Money for Day One
Level 2: Building
Level 3: Growing and Protecting
Specialty: Money and AI, Money for Families, Money Before Release
Tech Basics
The world changed while you were gone, and it now runs on a device nobody explained.
Who it's for
Anyone who was handed a smartphone and expected to already know how it works. People whose last phone flipped open. People who have never had their own email address, or whose accounts were controlled by someone else.
You walk out able to
- Run your phone instead of it running you
- Keep your accounts and passwords, and recover a locked one
- Apply for benefits, book the DMV, upload a document, join a video call
- Fill a form, read a PDF, and use a spreadsheet
- Tell a real message from a scam
Courses
AI for Everyday Life
AI can close the gap for someone starting over, but only if somebody sits down and shows them how it works.
Who it's for
Everyone who finishes Tech Basics, and anyone comfortable on a phone who has heard about AI and has not been shown what it does for someone in their situation. Built around the U.S. Department of Labor's AI Literacy Framework: understand it, explore uses, direct it, evaluate outputs, and use it responsibly.
You walk out able to
- Have an AI assistant explain a letter from the court, a lease, a bill, or a job posting
- Draft a resume, an email to a landlord, or a message to a caseworker
- Check the answer, because it is sometimes wrong
- Protect your information
- Hold a certificate an employer recognizes
Courses
Getting Hired
You have a story to tell, and there is a way to tell it that gets you the job.
Who it's for
Anyone looking for work with a gap in the timeline, a record, or a resume that does not fit the template. Anyone who has never applied for a job online. Includes Your Own Boss, for people who would rather start their own thing.
You walk out able to
- Know what is on your record and what the law lets an employer ask
- Get past AI screening with a resume that tells the truth well
- Record a one-way video interview you are proud of
- Talk about your history in two minutes, calmly, looking them in the eye
- Handle a background check that comes back, and keep the job
Courses
Phase 1: Know Your Record, Know Your Rights
Co-taught with legal aid. Navigation rather than legal advice.
Phase 2: Getting Found
Phase 3: Getting Hired
Phase 4: Keeping the Job and Growing
Phase 5: Career Pathways and Your Own Boss
Your Personal Plan
Any course stands on its own. If you are starting from the beginning, this is the route we recommend. Click a stage to open it.
Day One
The account, the ID, the phone, and your record. The things that block everything else.
- Get Banked, and Your ID and Your Identity
- Cash Flow When Money Is Tight, and Spot the Scam
- Your Phone, Your Laptop, Your Accounts
- Read Your Own Record, and Your Rights in Hiring
Building
Credit, court debt, AI as a working tool, and a resume that gets through an online screen.
- Credit From Zero, and Court Debt, Fines and Fees
- Modern Money Traps, and Documents and Data
- AI 101, and Using an AI Assistant for Real Tasks
- The Machine-Readable Resume, and Telling Your Story
Growing
Paychecks, saving, housing, the digital workplace, and a career path or your own business.
- Paychecks, Taxes and Refunds, and Saving
- Housing Money, and Building With AI, No Code
- The Digital Workplace, and First 90 Days on the Job
- A Career Pathway, or Your Own Boss
The same information anyone with money and connections would get.
Virtual or in person
At partner sites, on Zoom, or in a room with people who know your world. It is how this community has told us it learns.
Phone-first
Every course is designed for a learner whose only device is a phone, possibly a new one. Laptops come out when the course needs them.
Short sessions that stack
45 to 90 minutes each. Take one, or ladder through a whole level. You can enter at any stage.
Hands on the real task
Every course ends with the thing done: account opened, credit frozen, resume that passes the screen, budget live on your phone.
A credential at the end
A third-party certificate where a good one exists, such as Google AI Essentials or OSHA 10, and a FreshOut certificate otherwise.
Digital Safety and Privacy
Scams, deepfakes, data rights, and account security. It is not a course of its own but a strand woven through all four programs, because every person needs it on day one.
Peer Instructors
A path for graduates to become paid teaching assistants and then instructors. It creates jobs, keeps the voice judgment-free, and is the most credible proof the model works.
Come for an hour or come for a season.
Cohort
The full pathway with the same group, start to finish.
Workshop
A single course on its own, often hosted at a partner's site.
Open Lab
Drop in. Bring the letter, the form, or the phone that will not update.
One to one coaching
Resume, background-check response, or budget, worked through together.
The 2026 schedule and locations are still being set. Contact us for what is running now.
Things people ask before they show up.
If your question is not here, ask us and a person will reply.
Do I need any experience?
No. Every course starts at the beginning, including how to use the phone you were just handed. Bring your questions. Bring your phone.
Who is this for?
Anyone who was never taught the basics of money, technology, or getting hired. Our roots are in reentry work in Los Angeles, and the door is open to anyone starting over: people coming home, young people leaving foster care, people leaving a relationship or a marriage, people who lost a job after twenty years, seniors, and youth.
Where are sessions, and what do they cost?
Sessions run virtually on Zoom and in person in Los Angeles, at partner organizations' sites and directly through FreshOut. Schedules, locations, and cost details for 2026 are still being set. Contact us and we will tell you exactly what is involved.
Do I have to talk about my past?
Only if you want to. It comes up in the Getting Hired course, where learning to talk about your history briefly and honestly is the skill that gets you the job. How you got here is a fact about your circumstances, not your character. Nobody here will ask you to explain yourself.
Can my organization host a program or get staff training?
Yes. That is half of what we do. See For organizations, or email info@freshouteducation.org.
Is FreshOut a registered nonprofit?
Yes. FreshOut Education is a 501(c)(3) public charity based in Los Angeles, EIN 87-4636609, with programs since 2019. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Two ways in, and both lead to a person.
Contact FreshOut
Tell us a little about what you are fresh out of and what you want to learn. Someone from our team will get back to you.
Ask your case manager
Many of our programs run at partner organizations: reentry programs, housing providers, and workforce centers. If you are working with one, ask them about FreshOut. If they have not heard of us, send them here.