The United Way-funded workforce development program is helping shape Flip4Good’s approach to trauma-informed design, systems alignment, and the built environment.

Flip4Good Founder + CEO Erika Brulé graduated from Santa Monica College’s Homeless Service Work Certificate program on June 16, 2026, as part of the program’s second cohort.

The United Way of Greater Los Angeles-funded workforce development initiative was created to help strengthen Los Angeles County’s homelessness services pipeline. Erika applied, interviewed, and was accepted into the cohort, joining 21 other students selected for the program. The certificate combines coursework with field-based learning, including 50 hours of hands-on experience at work-based learning sites across Los Angeles County.

For Flip4Good, the program was a direct extension of the organization’s work.

Flip4Good uses trauma-informed design to create safe spaces and opportunities that support long-term success and independence for people in transition. That work requires design expertise, operational discipline, and a clear understanding of the systems surrounding homelessness services.

Through Santa Monica College’s Homeless Service Work Program, Erika deepened her understanding of housing systems, client engagement, trauma-informed care, advocacy, case management, and the operational realities providers navigate every day.

As part of the program, Erika interned with Dr. Heidi Behforouz at the Los Angeles County Department of Homeless Services and Housing (HSH). Although the certificate program has concluded, the internship is continuing beyond graduation, giving Flip4Good an ongoing opportunity to learn from the field while refining its approach to trauma-informed design, measurement, systems alignment, and implementation.

“I started Flip4Good because I believed the built environment belongs in the conversation about stability, safety, and long-term success,” said Erika Brulé, Founder + CEO of Flip4Good. “Going through this program, graduating with the second cohort, and continuing my internship with Dr. Heidi at HSH have sharpened that conviction. The closer you get to the systems, constraints, and lived realities surrounding homelessness services, the clearer the responsibility becomes. Flip4Good has to build with precision, understand the field we are working inside, and be honest about where design can contribute.”

That field exposure is informing Flip4Good’s next stage of work.

The organization continues to build around a simple yet critical idea: what happens under the roof matters. Housing provides the setting. The built environment shapes how that setting is experienced.

Design can affect safety, stress, sleep, privacy, routine, regulation, and a person’s ability to use a space well. For providers, the built environment can also affect operations, staff experience, service delivery, and how a program functions day-to-day.

Flip4Good’s work sits at the intersection of design, housing operations, behavioral health, resident experience, and implementation. The continuing internship with Dr. Heidi is helping the organization better understand where the built environment fits within the broader homelessness response system, how to make responsible claims about environmental impact, and how to design in ways that support the people living and working inside these spaces.

United Way of Greater Los Angeles funded Santa Monica College’s second Homeless Service Work cohort, helping remove financial barriers for students and expand access to training for the homelessness services workforce.

Flip4Good is grateful to Santa Monica College, United Way of Greater Los Angeles, the program faculty, and Dr. Heidi Behforouz for the opportunity to keep learning from the field while building a stronger, more responsible model for trauma-informed design in spaces serving people navigating housing instability and transition.

Read United Way of Greater Los Angeles’ post on the second cohort of Santa Monica College Homeless Service Work Program graduates.