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Just In Time For The Holidays 2025
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[The Big Picture]
Our all-new newsletter!
Welcome to Don’s Weekly Wrap-Up, a brand-new way to keep up on all things Just in Time! Every week, you’ll receive fresh content highlighting JIT youth, volunteers, staff, workshops, events, hot topics, and so much more! Our main intention is to keep you informed on what’s going on in the community that we’re so grateful you’re a part of!
We’d also love to hear from you! If you have a story to share or just want to let us know what you think of Don’s Weekly Wrap-Up, we welcome your input!
We hope you enjoy our first edition!
June 9, 2021
Upcoming
events
events
June 12: College Bound
June 15: Sky Deck Celebration
June 19: Walk the Talk Virtual Finale featuring Jimmy Wayne
June 26: College Bound Virtual Celebration
DID YOU KNOW?
13-year-old Katie recently won a singing competition with a cash grand prize! Rather than keeping the prize money, she decided to invest $500 in a worthy cause and she chose Just in Time!
Katie shared that she was amazed to learn that transition age foster youth are entering the world unprepared and on their own, and she is excited to do her part in making sure each of them has the resources and community they need to thrive!
7 Bridges & bonding with Career Horizons
by Rachel Trujillo, JIT Staff
Recently, the 2021 Career Horizons cohort had their first socially distanced, in-person event of the year – the 7 Bridges hike across San Diego! During this 5.5-mile urban trek, the young women of Career Horizons were joined by female coaches and volunteers, with superstar JIT volunteer Jacqui Todd leading the way through views of Balboa park, beautiful canyons, city streets, and more. The hike took them through the neighborhoods of Hillcrest, North Park and Banker’s Hill, and across seven historic bridges including the Park Boulevard Bridge, Cabrillo Bridge, First Avenue Bridge, Quince Street Bridge, Spruce Street Suspension Bridge, Vermont Street Bridge, and Georgia Street Bridge.
The hike proved to be a great bonding experience in addition to a great physical activity, with many of the women meeting each other for the first time and establishing lasting connections. Some even conquered their fear of bridges with support from their Just in Time community! The adventure ended with a picnic-style lunch highlighted by delicious sandwiches, great conversations, and amazing company!
Career Horizons participant Alisha shared, “I had a good time today. It was really beautiful sight-seeing. I’ve never really seen this part of San Diego before, so it was really nice getting out and being able to be with people and meet everybody in person for the first time. My favorite part would probably be the suspension bridge on Spruce Street. It was really fun! I’d seen it all over the internet and really wanted to go so it was really exciting being able to experience that for the first time with my Career Horizons cohort!”
Mastering communication with Bridges to Success
by Derahn Johnson, JIT Contractor &
Rachel Trujillo, JIT Staff
Recently, the young men in our Bridges to Success service took part in a dynamic workshop that covered all things communication!
The workshop, which was facilitated by JIT Bridges to Success Consultant, DeRahn Johnson, was called “Mastering Communication: Elevate Your Expression Skills to Enhance Your Life”. Youth who engaged in the workshop explored their communication skills, learned how to improve different styles of communication, and got to practice how to communicate in different scenarios.
They dove into the importance of communication in a variety of situations, including the need to communicate for their careers; with their friends, partners, and family; to achieve personal goals; and to express themselves. They also delved into types of nonverbal communication such as body language and how to be a good listener who practices understanding and empathy.
As Bridges to Success participant Caleb shared, “One of the main points that I got out of the workshop is that communication is important not just in our professional life but as well in our personal life. Therefore, being aware of how we communicate is crucial to establish and maintain our relationships.”
Taking life to the next level: Olan’s story
by Evonne Ermey, JIT Contractor
When COVID hit, Olan was working as a Facilities Assistant at the San Diego Convention Center. Like so many youth within the Just in Time Community, Olan’s job in the hospitality industry would become a casualty of the pandemic. His ability to remain competitive in a new jobs market focused on remote work was compromised by transportation insecurity and his position on the wrong side of the digital divide.
Through JIT, Olan joined Pathways to Financial Power/NEXTjobs where he was paired with a coach to facilitate professional development and given his own laptop so that he could work on his resume, create a professional profile online, attend Zoom meetings, and search for stable housing.
“What was most useful for me was the amount of time spent practicing interview skills, updating my resume, and having one-on-one meetings. When I met my NEXTjobs coach, their interview and background experience was awesome. I learned how to achieve my goals and prepare for the next journey in life; how to become successful and independent for myself.”
Through NEXTjobs, Olan was connected to an employment opportunity at the clean food company MUIR Energy. He aced his interview and began work at MUIR in early March.
“My interview experience with MUIR was great. During the interview, I remembered to just be myself, to ask questions and also to speak in more detail about my job and to relate to the MUIR Energy values, all that I learned in NEXTjobs.”
Now that Olan has found a new source of income to provide immediate stability, he remains engaged with the Pathways/NEXTjobs service and his coach developing long-term career goals. He aspires to a career coaching children’s sports.
It’s good to be back.
As our lives begin to shift to a less confined new “normal,” we decided it’s about time to reach out to our incredible community and share what we’ve been doing, and what’s ahead as we pursue our critical mission for the young people we serve.
This past year, San Diego nonprofits faced enormous, unexpected obstacles and were forced to answer a daunting question: As economic unraveling makes already difficult work seem almost impossible, how do we meet the rising needs of youth impacted disproportionately by the pandemic?
In the weeks to come, you’ll see inspiring JIT stories of how we met that challenge, and how our community of youth, staff, volunteers, partners, and investors continue to set new standards for transition services for all youth impacted by foster care.
So, look for our Weekly Wrap-Up to see the part we play together to change the world, one youth at a time.
-Don Wells, Chief Empowerment Officer
