Opportunity Junction News

Mary Mei was in a bad place before she came to Opportunity Junction. She had been through a divorce, and after 20 years as a stay-at-home mother, she had a significant gap in her work experience history.

Our 2023 Imagine Gala fundraiser was a tremendous success, raising an incredible, record-breaking $208,000! It marked our first in-person gala since April 2019, and the atmosphere was electric.

The Administrative Careers Training (ACT) Program is excited to announce the upcoming graduation ceremony of its 70th class on Friday, May 26, from 7 to 8 p.m. at the El Campanil Theatre, located at 602 W 2nd St, Antioch, CA 94509.

“ What truly inspires me every day is witnessing the incredible impact we make in the lives of our clients.” – Brianna Robinson, President and CEO

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

Julien Frost wasn’t sure they wanted to pursue Opportunity Junction’s Administrative Careers Training (ACT) program after they first enrolled in May last year. In addition to a splitting headache on the first day of class, prior educational experiences that didn’t align with their needs had left a negative impression.

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Brianna Robinson as Opportunity Junction’s next president and CEO following an extensive six-month search.

The Newsmakers Lesher Speaker Series recently selected Opportunity Junction as its nonprofit partner for an event featuring guest speaker Right Honorable Theresa May, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Come work for an organization that’s making a difference in your community! At Opportunity Junction, we believe that everyone who works hard deserves the opportunity to succeed. We help motivated Contra Costa job seekers gain the skills and confidence to launch careers leading to financial security.

Dear Opportunity Junction Community, This will be my final dispatch from the “CEO Corner.” After 22 years here, I will be transitioning to the role of Senior Advisor to our new CEO.

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

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.