Meet Alan Santana of No Teen Riders in Lomita

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alan Santana.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Alan. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I founded No Teen Riders in 2016 after I saw a need to try and educate teenage drivers here in California and across the country after my cousin was tragically killed along with two of his high school classmates on an early Saturday morning on the roads of Kentucky.

No Teen Riders is a nonprofit that has created a license plate frame as well as decals for the rear window and bumper of the car. It is a program designed to bring awareness and hopefully curtail the tragic deaths that happen each and every day here in America. Six to eight teens will lose their lives while riding in a vehicle being driven by a teenager with a provisional driver’s license. There are laws all across the country that prohibit teenagers from transporting friends or even riding in a vehicle being driven by them while holding a provisional driver’s license.

You must not carry anyone in your vehicle under the age of 25 with you while operating a vehicle until you have driven for at least one year, without and infractions or reach the age of eighteen. These laws are broken each and every day. Two-hundred-fourty-three-thousand teens will wind up in emergency rooms every year and the cost to insurance companies is staggering. By creating our program and bringing awareness we hope to cut down on the deaths and cost to insurance companies all across America

Has it been a smooth road?
Nothing is ever smooth especially when you launch any business especially a non profit. You have to be ready for rejection along the way no matter how good you feel about your venture. Because of my former career as a professional boxer it taught me to never quit or give up on anything that you truly believe in. I was fortunate to have people look at our nonprofit and see the vision that I had when I came up with this idea. Our mission statement says it all “SAVING LIVES ONE TEEN DRIVER AT A TIME”. What parents must understand and realize it that they are giving the keys to in many cases a teenager who has minimal experience behind the wheel of a dangerous machine.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am the CEO and Founder of No Teen Riders which was created to educate teenagers here in California as well as other states here in America. We are an award-winning nonprofit for our work with teenagers and high schools. Our program will donate 30% of all sales of the license plate frames back to each individual high school and also award two scholarships to two students who are seniors. What sets us apart from other driving programs is our visual license plate frame that was designed along with law enforcement who loved the idea when I first ran it by them and wanted feedback from them. It sounds so cliché but if we can save the life of at least one teenager every day we are doing our job here at No Teen Riders. No Teen Riders has allowed me to travel up and down the state to spread the word about our program and to meet with former First
Ladies as well as many people who truly care about what we are doing.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Yes, I do and the reason is because in Los Angeles everyone drives a vehicle and our program is a truly one of a kind business and nonprofit. There are many hurdles to overcome when starting any business such as licensing, filing a fictitious business statement, opening a bank account and many other obstacles that you must overcome in order to even launch your company. In my opinion, California has to be one of the toughest states to start a business especially in today’s business climate.

You have many businesses fleeing the state because of taxes and a lot of red tape in order to start any type of business be it a traditional business or a non profit business. The IRS and State is a bit more stringent when it comes to running a nonprofit.

Pricing:

• $24.95 per set. Includes one high visibility license plate frame as well as two decals for the rear window and bumper.

Contact Info:

• Address: 2018 Pacific Coast Hwy., Ste 203,
  Lomita, CA 90717
• Website: www.NoTeenRiders.org
• Phone: 1-310-834-9522
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: Alan Santana/No Teen Riders

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