Many organizations across the county are working with residents to help them better understand how to manage their money. San Diego County Credit Union has assisted residents and youth around the county through their Financial Wellness Wednesdays seminars at local libraries and their BizKid$ program in partnership with the San Diego County Office of Education. The Super Dentists have also partnered with Junior Achievement of San Diego’s JA BizTown program where students learn how to be a citizen, how an economy works, how to apply for a job and run a successful business. San Diego Financial Literacy Center assisted more than 230 individuals and families through their Smart With Your Money Financial Opportunity Clinics that educate the public on how to use credit wisely, the importance of saving, budgeting, investing and giving back to their communities.

Organizations are helping residents thrive in the job market through on-the-job-training programs and career services. Each year Kitchens For Good aims to train 100 foster youth and formerly incarcerated individuals in their culinary apprenticeship program with 90% of students gaining employment. Paving Great Futures provided 3,883 young adults, individuals struggling with addiction and formerly incarcerated persons with entrepreneurial and workforce readiness training and job placement and life counseling services. San Diego Workforce Partnership served 202,494 job seekers with workshops, training, job search assistance, job placement and other resources at no cost to them. The National Veterans Transition Services REBOOT program works with a host of community partners to provide training and skills that help veterans transition to a workplace environment including job coaching, placement assistance, and follow-up mentoring and coaching.

Community partners are assisting residents to keep more of the income they earn. The San Diego Earned Income Tax Credit Coalition partnered with the County of San Diego, the Internal Revenue Service and United Way of San Diego County to help low to moderate income individuals and families earn valuable income tax credits by helping to prepare their taxes for free, generating $13 million in tax credits locally.

A program of the San Diego Workforce Partnership, CONNECT2Careers (C2C), helps young adults secure employment using an online portal listing thousands of local job and internship opportunities. The program also provides in-person training opportunities to help young people build their résumés, practice elevator pitches, prepare for interviews and learn about the local labor market.

Pamela first heard about C2C when a C2C training specialist came to her high school class to teach students how to answer interview questions and build their résumé. She was immediately drawn to the program because of the C2C team’s enthusiasm and knowledge about helping young people like her gain work experience, a goal she hoped to reach in the near future.