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Just In Time For The Holidays 2025
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Mentorship Through Shared Experience
Did you know half of JIT staff are former foster youth?
Did you know that more than half of Just in Time’s staff are former foster youth? Many are former participants who once sat in the same workshops, met with the same coaches, and navigated the same challenges as the young adults they now support.
As we wrap up Mentorship Month, we want to recognize the powerful impact of peer-mentorship within the Just in Time community. Their shared experience with our participants transforms traditional mentorship into something deeper: peer mentorship rooted in trust, credibility, and genuine understanding.
Esme on the right with Monica Reyes
Esmeralda Muñoz joined Just in Time as a participant in 2018 where she participated in College Bound, Financial Fitness and My Life, My Story, a service focused on female empowerment. Today, she has a leadership role within the organization as Youth Services Director.
I think the fact that half of JIT staff are former foster youth, and have experienced the system themselves, demonstrates that this truly is a community and not a system.
The mentors who have been most impactful in my life are those who took the time to really get to know me as a person first. Feeling seen and heard as a human being, before any roles, titles, or other identities helps me build trust and engage more fully in the mentoring relationship.
To me, mentorship means having someone to lean on, someone that you trust and connect with. As I’ve grown into an adult, it’s sometimes really lonely, and having someone who can provide a fresh perspective or even give advice when it’s needed is super important. It’s important to have people in your corner.
Now that I’m in a leadership position at Just in Time, I come in with the mindset of understanding – not assuming and not having judgement. This is where I’ve been the most successful and have been able to be more present with participants and staff.
Miguel Gonzales and Christine Larsen
Miguel Gonzalez joined Just in Time in 2021. Through Just in Time’s Financial Fitness service, Miguel was paired with a coach, Christine, who empowered him to reevaluate his spending habits and begin tackling his debt. Later, Miguel joined JIT staff as a Youth Services Coordinator, leading our Pathways to Financial Power service.
When I joined Financial Fitness, I was hesitant to open up about finances and only shared the bare minimum with my coach. I didn’t fully know what debt I had, and I didn’t want to see how bad it really was.
Christine never pressured me. Instead, she openly shared her own financial journey, and that vulnerability changed how I viewed mentorship. I used to think mentors had everything figured out and could only help once they were already successful. Now I know that a mentor is more like a coach, someone who meets you where you are, helps you use the resources you already have, and holds you accountable with encouragement and discipline.
Now, as a staff member, I practice what I preach with our participants. I learned early on that the mentors I respected most were people who were actively doing the work themselves. That gave them credibility. They weren’t just giving advice; they were guiding me based on lived-experience. At JIT, I share real experiences with participants, not just information. I’m able to speak honestly about my journey, about the process and its impact because I’ve lived it.
James Hidds-Monroe on the left with Larry Rusinko
James Hidds-Monroe joined Just in Time as a participant in 2008. As an early participant, James has had the opportunity to see the organization grow from a few hundred participants to more than 3,500 youth served. He knows the number well because he holds a leadership position at Just in Time as Director of Impact Measurement.
I’ve always thought, whether I’m looking up to someone or someone is looking up to me, that it was a partnership in serving the one who needs the most support. I also think that people need to pull their own weight in the relationship to foster strong rapport and progress toward a goal—whether that’s moving toward something like self-sufficiency, or informal, like emotional support.
Recently, I’ve gotten to know a Just in Time participant named Michael. He showed up to a JIT event with a motorcycle bag. After that, we started having real conversations when we’d see each other in the hallway, rather than just “Hi” and “Bye.” We went on a bike ride together and realized we had a lot of similarities in our backgrounds. Because of the way we both grew up, it’s easy to gravitate toward negative forces in our lives. However, we both recognize we need positive people in our corner, which takes a lot of work to make that happen.
I think Just in Time truly believes in lived expertise, even before it was popular. We have been ahead of the curve in terms of making that happen as a strategy, and having lived-experience staff at different levels of the organization is a testament to that.
