After the sudden loss of her husband and the closure of the law office she was working at as a receptionist, Anita Robinson found herself grieving, overwhelmed and unsure where to turn. “I had to hustle,” she recalls.
She 
was now a single mother of eight, raising five minor children alone, working part time jobs, and caring for her aging mother.
Opportunity Junction was her crossroads.
In 2016, Anita enrolled in Opportunity Junction’s administrative careers training program. She remembers being the oldest participant in Class 50. With encouragement from classmates, life skills coaches, and the unwavering support of staff, she began to rebuild—not just a career, but her confidence. “I remember Norman (computer skills instructor) getting frustrated with my typing speed,” she laughs. “But he always encouraged me. I loved him, Natalie, Brianna—and Rocky (the onsite service dog at the time), too!” She credits OJ with giving her the tools to succeed.
At her OJ graduation, her entire family—siblings, cousins, children—showed up to cheer her on. It was the first time many of them had seen her celebrated for her own success.
After graduating, she hesitantly accepted a job with California Check Cashing, where she worked for three years. But the demanding schedule took a toll on her family life, particularly her teenage son, who began to struggle in school. Eventually, with the help of Opportunity Junction’s alumni services, she landed a temp job across the street from her son’s high school. Being so close allowed her to support him daily—and he turned it around, eventually graduating at the top of his class. “That job was a godsend,” she says. “It changed everything.”
Anita worked hard in her temporary role, in hopes that a full time position would open that she could apply for. When the full time administrative assistant role opened up, she quickly applied. “The supervisor came to me directly to offer me a permanent position,” she recalls, “and I never thought, as an older woman, that this would happen. But Opportunity Junction brought that confidence out in me.”
Since joining the City of Antioch in 2018, she’s earned two promotions and now earns almost triple what she started with. “I owe it all to OJ,” she says. “The classes, the mental health support, the food assistance, the encouragement. They believed in me when I didn’t know where to turn.”
Anita is proud of her own achievements and the success of her kids who have seen just how much you can accomplish when you work hard and believe in yourself. Today, all eight of her children have graduated high school; four are college graduates, and her youngest is set to graduate soon. “I sacrificed a lot for my kids,” she says. “I wanted them to be everything I wasn’t—and now they are.”
“I still wear the interview suit I got from the OJ closet,” she says with pride. “It reminds me how far I’ve come.” We are so proud of Anita and happy to be working alongside her in the community.
