Home Depot gives $250,000 to boost youth workforce programs in Los Angeles

The Home Depot is putting $250,000 into Boys & Girls Clubs of America across greater Los Angeles, with the money set aside for soccer programming, workforce development opportunities and other club-based youth initiatives in Southern California. The timing gave the announcement a World Cup backdrop, but the workforce piece is the one that matters most for workers who watch the company’s community playbook closely.

The donation landed as the U.S. Men's National Team opened its 2026 World Cup run at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Major League Soccer said last year that Los Angeles would also host the team’s group-stage closer on June 25, part of a tournament that spans 48 teams, 104 matches and 16 cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Allison Kolber, Home Depot’s vice president of integrated marketing, said the gift is meant to help young people access opportunities and build connections. Boys & Girls Clubs of America said the funding will support youth development and workforce readiness, which pushes the gift beyond a one-time sports promotion and into the same kind of pipeline-building language Home Depot uses around skilled trades and early career exposure.

That matters inside Home Depot because the company has long leaned on its reputation as a place where trades knowledge, customer service and neighborhood visibility overlap. In stores across greater Los Angeles, associates and department leads know the value of programs that help young people arrive with better workplace habits, clearer career goals and more confidence around hands-on work. A local teen who starts with afterschool club activities, then moves into skill-building and career exploration, is closer to the kind of candidate the retailer and its contractors want to see in the labor market.

Boys & Girls Clubs of America says its clubs offer quality afterschool programming, year-round sports and summer programs, giving the Home Depot donation a direct channel into daily youth programming rather than a distant grant pool. The Home Depot Foundation already partners with the organization on a national Life & Workforce Readiness initiative focused on career exploration, skill-building, skilled trades and career readiness, so the Los Angeles gift extends an existing relationship rather than creating a new one from scratch.

For associates, store leaders and local jobseekers, the message is straightforward: Home Depot wants its public footprint in Southern California to reach beyond sales and into the next generation of workers.