2018

Excellence and innovation make up the tagline of the Vista Unified School District. With all the activities happening at Vista, it isn’t hard to see why these words are merited. With 29 schools serving nearly 22,000 students from preschool to 12^th grade, Vista Unified is one of San Diego County’s largest educational agencies.

On May 29, the San Diego Workforce Partnership (SDWP) held its second OpportunitySD webinar on the Leaky Education Pipeline. The webinar was part of a quarterly series on opportunity youth (sometimes called disconnected youth)—young adults ages 16-24 who are not in school and not working—in San Diego County and the barriers impacting their everyday lives.

Motivated by a desire to give back to his family, high school student Rolando was looking for work experience and a paycheck to afford things for himself like clothes, shoes and fun experiences for his siblings. In his words, Rolando has done some ‘not so great things’ in the past and wanted to make up for it by giving back to his family members.

In a time when the federal government remains in a stalemate over immigration, the City of San Diego is creating a strategic plan to better integrate immigrants and refugees. There are many ways to do so, including creating a more inclusive city through education initiatives and culturally competent policies.

Bank of America today announced $532,500 in grants to more than 40 nonprofits that help address the needs of those at risk for or experiencing homelessness across San Diego. The grants focus on increasing access to shelter and wraparound supportive services, in addition to job skills, education and other basic needs that are fundamental to establishing financial stability.

On May 18, the San Diego Workforce Partnership (SDWP), Imperial County Workforce Board and San Diego Community College District convened its first joint meeting of the Regional Council on Health Care Workforce Development. The 29 (and counting) member council is made up of health care employers from all corners of the industry as well as curriculum and program designers from education and workforce development.

“Not theoretical. Practical. Relevant. Helpful. Beyond thought-provoking. Challenging.”

These are the words Tanissha Harrell, program specialist at the San Diego Workforce Partnership (SDWP), used to describe Jobs for the Future (JFF) Horizons conference (#JFFHorizons) in New Orleans that took place in June of 2018.

The job search process can be overwhelming for anyone. With countless job opportunities available in the San Diego region, it can be hard to know which one is right for you. That’s where the San Diego Workforce Partnership’s (SDWP) career portal comes in.

The San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) Achievement Academy has been selected to serve as one of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) new EnVision Centers to promote financial self-reliance among federal rental assistance recipients and public housing residents.

Penelope Osequera is a Program Coordinator at the San Diego Workforce Partnership. Here she tells a little bit about herself, both personally and professionally.