Opportunity Junction News

Even though single mother of four Nanaushika McGee enjoyed her job at an elementary school, she was ultimately interested in pursuing a career in healthcare. But the timing was never right, and many training options were cost prohibitive. It didn’t seem attainable.

Thank you, Opportunity Junction Supporters, for your 2022 Holiday donations! Altogether, including $35,000 in matching funds from Delta Scrap & Salvage (a $5,000 increase from years prior), 207 donors contributed more than $202,000 to support our programs and services. We are so thankful to every one of you, including 12 alumni donors and 38 new donors who joined us this year.

Opportunity Junction will soon honor the hard work and dedication of its Administrative Careers Training (ACT) program students, and the public is invited to attend the graduation ceremony. The graduation ceremony for ACT Class 69 will take place on Friday, Jan. 27, from 7 to 8 p.m., at the El Campanil Theater, 602 W. Second St., Antioch.

Dear Opportunity Junction Community, I joined Opportunity Junction in May 2001 as the Project Manager working with our Administrative Careers Training (ACT) interns. My job was to manage, mentor, train, and deploy the interns on outsourced administrative projects for local companies. We were seeking real world work experience.

We are proud and grateful to announce the following new grants and funding Partnerships.

Maria Capote wanted more for her kids. Prior to coming to Opportunity Junction, she and her family of six were living off one income, and she longed for the ability to do more exciting things for her children to experience, such as traveling to new places. She felt limited in her ability to provide them with the lIfe she’d always dreamed of having for her family.

Our Holiday Campaign raises critical funds to provide year-round opportunities for local job seekers to gain professional skills, work experience, and a new-found confidence.

The pandemic threw our world upside down, and our Tech Center, which had to pivot to online service delivery, was not immune to the impact. Yet despite the challenges brought on by COVID-19, we’ve used that time to develop exciting new courses for learners throughout the community.

Dear Opportunity Junction Community, While my deepest gratitude in my professional life is reserved for the Opportunity Junction team and alumni, I am also grateful to collaborate with other local organizations and leaders. One partnership we belong to is the East Contra Costa Community Alliance.

We are proud and grateful to announce the following new grants and funding partnerships:

Aishia Patterson has always cared for others. As a mother of four children and a caregiver for nearly 25 years, Aishia spent most of her life prioritizing the needs of other people. Eventually, she wanted more.

The Opportunity Junction board has adopted an official DEIAB Statement to summarize our commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging in the workplace and in the community. The statement can be read below and found on our website here .

Beverly Spring calls her path to becoming a regular volunteer at Opportunity Junction (OJ) a God Story. It all started with a little trailer named Tag-a-Long Suzie.

Dear Opportunity Junction Community, Recently, I was invited to speak to the board of our largest funder, Tipping Point Community, about Opportunity Junction’s experience during periods of economic uncertainty. One of my key qualifications was that I’ve been leading the organization since before the Great Recession in 2008. How did we approach it then? How would we approach it now?

We are proud and grateful to announce the following new grants and funding partnerships: HEDCO Foundation: Thanks to a grant from HEDCO, we will be able to purchase new desktops for our staff and program participants.This will especially benefit our Administrative Careers Training students, as the new computers support an upgrade to Office 365 at the same time.

Dawn Nelson had seen an ad for Opportunity Junction’s job training program years ago, but at the time, the voice in her mind repeated a phrase it had said her entire life: “You’re not smart enough.”

It feels like just yesterday we launched the Antioch expansion of our Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) training program, a change that allowed us to double our service capacity. Time flies! Antioch’s Cohort 3 is wrapping up its 12 weeks of CNA training, life skills training, and hands-on clinical experience in preparation for the upcoming graduation!

When in need of a job, it might be tempting to take the first offer. We’ve been through a pandemic, and many are itching to get back into the workforce. While it’s great to see a boom of new opportunities on the job market – and a recent dip in the state’s unemployment rate – candidates should be wary about accepting a position that doesn’t offer long-term career growth.

I am proud of our team’s results for the year ending June 30, not least because of the challenges they had to overcome along the way. We returned to the office, then we left, then we returned again. We stretched to provide rental assistance during an extremely challenging period for the folks we serve. We even survived a Zoom-bomb during the Imagine Gala.

We are proud and grateful to announce the following new grants and funding partnerships: Marathon Petroleum Corporation: A third grant from Marathon Petroleum Foundation Inc. will go toward supporting Opportunity Junction’s Administrative Careers Training (ACT) program, which enhances our participants’ career possibilities and establishes their credentials with employers.

Christopher Ledgister was inspired to apply to Opportunity Junction’s Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program by his grandmother from Nicaragua. She was a registered nurse in her country and came to work in the U.S. in the same field.

Whether at the El Campanil Theater, at Mt. Diablo Adult Education, or over Zoom, Opportunity Junction students have been turning tassels. In April and May alone, the Healthcare Career Pathways (HCP) and Administrative Careers Training (ACT) programs helped celebrate the achievements of 36 graduating participants.

Opportunity Junction’s annual Imagine Gala fundraiser was held on April 23, 2022. We are so grateful to all who supported the event by means of sponsorship or donations, participating in the silent auction, and attending the event!

Learning something new as an adult – no matter your age – can be intimidating and at times frustrating. Feelings of doubt creep in… You might think to yourself: “What if I can’t understand the material? I never was a good student – I never will be. Even when I try really hard, I still just don’t get it.”

by Alissa Friedman, President and CEO — At Opportunity Junction, our annual planning cycle runs from July 1 through June 30. That’s the period of our “fiscal year,” a relatively arbitrary 12-month period that we chose for convenience in financial reporting. (It’s the same fiscal year as the county and local cities use.)

We are proud and grateful to announce the following new grants and funding partnerships:

Opportunity Junction's pivot during the pandemic was just what Nancy needed to launch her administrative career. Nancy followed a traditional path through high school and into her first retail job.

Are you looking for a free, fun, at-home activity on April 23? We hope you will join us in celebrating Opportunity Junction's 22 Years of Transformation at our virtual 2022 Imagine Gala.

Individual contributors to Opportunity Junction often donate in the name of a departed loved one who was emblematic of our mission.

Opportunity Junction is actively accepting applications for its workforce development programs - the Administrative Careers Training (ACT) and the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) programs, which both begin in May.