Kevin Tovar was in a tight spot, working two jobs and couch surfing, when he started showing up to weekly meetups at a Signal Hill automotive garage.

At those open-garage gatherings, young people would work on their cars with guidance from mentors, talk and just hang out. Tovar soon started helping mechanics with oil changes and tire rotations, making meaningful connections along the way.

“Everybody in the community that I’ve met so far, either you learn something new from them or they bring a good connection,” said Tovar, who grew up in a foster home and wound up homeless after aging out of the system a few years ago.

Tovar, now 24, found a place to live through the weekly gatherings and soon landed a year-long apprenticeship at the garage.

The garage and the weekly meet-up, called Motor Monday, are run by the nonprofit Drive Savant Foundation Werks, or DSF Werks. It was founded in 2019 by Joel Lueb, who owns a printing business, and Marci Tasche, a CPA. Their goal was to offer a social safety net for foster youth in a casual setting where the youth could meet professionals while wielding wrenches and talking shop.

Last year, DSF Werks launched the formal apprenticeship program, and Tovar was selected for it. He has spent the year working under certified mechanic Jordan Lang. When it ends, he hopes to land a full-time job with his new skills and connections.

Jordan Lang, lead mechanic, left, looks for auto parts on a website with Kevin Tovar, center, and Elijah Berryman at DSF Werks in Signal Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.

Lueb and his wife Dorien know the challenges that foster youth face very well. They have fostered 19 children over eight years and adopted one of them, Truman, now 16, who they took in as a newborn.

The Luebs, who also have three biological children, began fostering after hearing about the need. There are roughly 33,000 foster youth in L.A. County, and about 1,000 transition out of foster care each year. For those transition-aged youth, the odds of becoming homeless or incarcerated are high.

The county doesn’t have figures on how many foster youth are homeless, but nationally, anywhere from 31% to 46% of youth who exit foster care become homeless at some point before the age of 26.

In Long Beach, 20% of the 3,376 individuals who were counted as homeless last year said they had lived in a foster home.

“These kids need advocates, these kids need stability, they need people to show up when they’re in need,” Joel Lueb said.

Truman Lueb works on his welding technique while at DSF Werks in Signal Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.

MotorTrend, a quarterly American automobile magazine based out of El Segundo, has supported the nonprofit through car and tool donations, Lueb said.

Last December, they collaborated on a project that allowed the apprentices to tour a professional garage.

Over the next five years, DSF Werks hopes to split up the year-long apprentice program into shorter periods to serve more foster youth at a time, said Tasche, the co-founder.

Tasche struggled with substance abuse as a young adult before finishing an accounting degree at Cal State Long Beach in 2016, giving her a unique perspective on what people in a similar position need.

Jordan Lang, lead mechanic, right, looks at an engine with Elijah Berryman at DSF Werks in Signal Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.

Her goal with the nonprofit is “creating a network of people that you can call on, whether it’s to fix your car or to just vent about someone who made you really upset,” Tasche said.

Tovar is grateful to be one of the first two selected for the official apprenticeship program. For the last year, he’s been working to restore a 1999 Acura Integra GSR — and he’ll get to keep it at the end of the program.

Once the car is running, where will he take it?

“Around the block,” he said.

DSF Werks accepts monetary donations here. If you’re interested in donating a vehicle to the garage you can email Joel Lueb at [email protected].