Faces of Workforce

This Way Ahead has helped many young adults get their foot into the retail world. A program of the San Diego Workforce Partnership supported by Gap Inc., This Way Ahead helps young adults ages 16–24 from low-income communities develop skills for a life-changing

An animal lover, Taylor wanted to become a veterinary assistant. Taylor found out at a job fair that MiraCosta College’s Technology Career Institute (TCI) offered a certificate-granting program in this field, and staff there and her GenerateHope case manager referred her to Interfaith Community Services’ Transitional Youth Academy (TYA), which funded the vet assistant program, paying for books, supplies and transportation.

After graduating JRT, Juan enrolled at City College, works at the shipyard and looks forward to a career in HVAC. He also has reconnected with his mom, his sisters and his grown son, who now proudly tells his father, “I can talk to my friends about you!”

Kitchens for Good graduate Charla Walls shares her story in her own words: “I now believe in myself and my past bad choices are no longer a hindrance to me, they are just my past. My future is now bright—I can clearly visualize myself growing in the field.”

With Workforce Partnership funds supporting the work of Interfaith Community Services’ Transitional Youth Academy, Abraham received funding to pay for his Engineering Technician training and received work-readiness training, resume development, job search support, money management and soft skills training.

Jayden Logan graduated from Helix Charter High School and is currently a full-time student at Grossmont College studying photography and business marketing who’s passionate about cinematography: “I want to help people and capture special moments in their lives,” he says. 

Jasmin Hernandez Santacruz was a second-year student at UC San Diego when she was selected to work as an intern for the Social Venture Digital Marketing Internship Program with City Heights Coffee House (CHCH) in the fall of 2017.

TechHire focuses on areas like digital marketing, software development and robotics. As the program has grown, a gap began to show in the form of an overabundance of TechHire candidates with IT (e.g. IT systems and network support) backgrounds and a relatively low demand for technicians, support specialists and other similar roles in San Diego caused by outsourcing. It was clear something needed to be done to help job seeking San Diegans get their foot in the revolving tech door. 

Having received unemployment and disability insurance for two years in 2012 after being laid off from a different job, this time Richard was determined to go to the South County Career Center every day to use the computer resources and attend workshops on everything from resume writing to job interview skills.

Liliana was born in the U.S. to immigrant parents who hoped to give her the best possible chance to have a brighter future. Due to financial instability and lack of resources, however, they were forced to return to the west-central state of Michoacán where she would live until she was 6 years old.