With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, Rubicon was quick to pivot in order to provide our services to as many participants as possible, despite having to close our office doors. One way that Rubicon transitioned to providing virtual services is by utilizing Google Classroom.

If you’re unfamiliar with Google Classroom, it is an online hub that allows users to view content as well as complete assignments. Rubicon has found Google Classroom to be a strong fit to ‘house’ all of our Foundations workshops, which provide information on financial, employment, and wellness skills.

Rubicon also offers our Foundations workshops virtually via live Zoom sessions. However, due to those being at a scheduled time every day, Rubicon realized that offering the information on Google Classroom could expand our reach to more participants, who could complete the workshops on-demand as their schedules allowed. It's also been useful for participants who may miss one or two of the live Zoom workshops, as they can make them up by accessing the information on Google Classroom. “Participants that are working or have children and unable to get child care, are enjoying being able to log on to Google Classroom at their convenience,” says Rubicon Impact Coach Ruben Cantu. Rubicon further supported our participants by providing free laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots to those that needed them to access Google Classroom.

Participant feedback overall has been positive, as many are grateful for the flexibility that Google Classroom’s on-demand access provides. Participant feedback wasn’t always so solid, however; early on, many participants became frustrated because of their lack of familiarity with Google Classroom and their confusion over accessing all of Rubicon’s uploaded workshop material.

Rubicon responded by creating a new employment position, technical assistant, who would serve as a help desk or support line for participants who had questions navigating Google Classroom. And even better, this position is staffed by a few tech-savvy Rubicon participants. James Toalu, one of the technical assistants, explains that “once participants understand how to navigate Google Classroom, they are completing the workshops with ease.”

By having the Foundations workshop material on Google Classroom and offering live workshops via Zoom, Rubicon has been able to maintain providing our valuable services and information to our community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, Rubicon’s positive experience with Google Classroom has us believing that it's here to stay. Its on-demand ability makes it so convenient and a better option for many of our participants than scheduled programming. Thus, even when we’re back to offering our workshops fully in-person in the office, the Google Classroom option is likely to remain.

What the future holds is unknown, but what we do know is Rubicon is committed to providing our services and effectively reaching participants, one person and one laptop at a time. 

Rubicon Programs will distribute hot meals and toys to approximately 200 program participants and their families on Saturday, December 18 and Tuesday, December 21, 2021 at four of its East Bay locations. This marks the 12th year that the organization has provided gifts and food as part of a winter holiday celebration.

Rubicon’s Chief Program Officer Donté Blue says the giveaway events are a reminder to community members that they matter. “Since the beginning of time, sharing a warm meal has symbolized caring for another’s well-being in the same way a holiday toy brings joy – because someone cared enough to think about you,” Blue says. “We want our participants to know Rubicon is thinking about them and their well-being during this holiday season.”

A group of nearly 20 people across the sites, comprised of Rubicon employees and Participant Advisory Board members, will be on hand to distribute the toys and meals. Due to COVID-19 safety concerns at last year’s event, meals were not provided at the toy distribution, making this year’s festivities a welcome return to tradition for both Rubicon staff and participants.

Director of Community Based Programs Rhody McCoy looks forward to interacting with participants and their families at these events each year. “Rubicon considers the community we work in family,” McCoy says. “We are pleased and honored to be able to invite people to our sites, host these special events and participate in each family's holiday celebration and share the joy!”

Ron Thomas, Site Manager for Rubicon’s Concord location, secured the toys through the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation’s local campaign in Concord, CA, known for its annual collection and distribution of toys during the holiday season. In total, Rubicon distributes 400-500 toys each year in partnership with the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation and Centerforce, which receives additional donations through community churches.

“Every child needs a village. Rubicon is that village for families in the community,” Thomas says.

Participants who are enrolled in Rubicon’s programs have already received their invitations to the events. The food and toy distributions will take place at the following locations and times:

Saturday, December 18, 2021, 12:00 – 2:00 pm, Reentry Success Center

Tuesday, December 21, 2021, 4:30 – 6:00 pm Rubicon Antioch, Richmond, and Concord locations

This holiday season, Rubicon Programs is hosting the “Together We Can…” campaign to continue our work of breaking poverty in the East Bay. The campaign will officially launch on Giving Tuesday, although those eager to learn more can check out the campaign website in advance here.

The campaign will help Rubicon further our ever-adapting work in the community, including through collaborations with workforce development organizations, educational institutions, government agencies, and community-based advocacy groups. In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, we rose to the challenge of shelter-in-place restrictions and the associated increased needs in the communities we serve by participating in the following:

• Bounce Back Contra Costa – We supported over 5700 calls from impacted community members on the warm line in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties and responded to 588 service and support requests initiated on the website.
• Better Careers Design Group – Along with Alameda County Workforce Development Board, Alameda County Probation Department, Growth Sector, and Third Sector, we formed a collaborative to engage the community to learn more about the barriers and opportunities that influence justice-involved individuals from finding quality jobs. The result has been a community-driven system-change solution to increase the resources available to our most marginalized workers, better coordinate local service providers, and change the hearts and minds of employers.
• Collaborative Advocacy and Power Partnership (CAPP) – Rubicon’s CEO, Dr. Carole “DC” Dorham-Kelly, represents Rubicon as a CAPP Steering Committee Member. CAPP’s short-term objective is that residents, direct-service providers, and advocacy organizations work in deep partnership to effect significant changes in inequitable policies, systems, cultural norms, and narratives that prevent residents from thriving.
• Contra Costa Workforce Collaborative (CCWC) – As a public-private partnership of workforce development organizations spanning CBOs, Community Colleges, and Adult Schools, the CCWC aims to provide Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) career services in a coordinated effort that leverages existing resources to increase access to WIOA services throughout Contra Costa County.

Our work shows us that together, we can achieve real change for the communities in which we live, both at the systems and individual levels. That’s why, in addition to our collaborations with other community-centered organizations, we partnered with over 1400 participants during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic to build a more equitable East Bay through our individualized supportive services.

As we head into the new year, Rubicon knows that our impact will only continue to grow as we partner with more individuals and organizations that are looking to make real changes to the systems that keep people in the cycle of poverty. If this sounds like you, join us in our mission to end poverty in the East Bay by contributing to Rubicon Programs today. Your tax-deductible donation is an investment that will truly change the lives of so many of our East Bay neighbors.

Together, we can.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given many workers, especially those working remotely for the first time in their careers, a chance to look at their lives from a fresh perspective in what some are calling the “Great Reassessment.” For Rubicon Career Advisor John Cunningham, he saw an opportunity for growth.

“Working from home and the pandemic had me rethinking what I was going to do with all of this time I was going to have,” Cunningham said. “I saw the 8 minute and 46 second video of George Floyd, and I felt kind of helpless because I saw that being myself or one of my children. And I just kept hearing all of this rhetoric around how these types of things continue to happen and have historically been a part of the narrative between policing and black men and women and people of color in general in America, and I was like, ‘Man, I need to do something, I can’t just sit here and not do anything.’”

After consulting with people in his network, Cunningham received a recommendation from Pat Mims, Director of the Reentry Success Center, to connect with Project Rebound. Their support led Cunningham to enroll in a summer math camp, where he was the only student from the initial cohort who stayed through the entire series of classes.

The experience added to his desire to learn more. “I think it really showed me that I had the ability to accomplish things in an educational setting that I had never accomplished before, and it gave me a lot of confidence,” Cunningham said. “So I decided to give it a shot and go for a degree.”

Cunningham enrolled in classes at San Francisco State University (SFSU) and immediately began looking for ways to apply his learning outside of the classroom. He participated in the SFSU President’s Leadership Fellows Program, where he enhanced and added to the job-readiness skills he uses to support Rubicon participants in his role as a Career Advisor. He then set his sights on the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Fellowship. After a rigorous application and selection process, he was selected to participate as one of ten fellows for the Fall 2021 semester.

“I was interested in continuing the work I do with Rubicon, but expanding that into an understanding of how legislation and policies are created,” Cunningham said. “Seeing the whole process from beginning to end, reading these reports and seeing these recommendations and how they put all of this together to make legislation out of it—that’s the part that’s beneficial to me. It takes me out of the hands on and gives me a behind-the-veil experience on how government comes to some of the decisions that they come to.”

As a Willie L. Brown, Jr. Fellow, Cunningham works directly in government as an intern for Shamann Walton, President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Cunningham participates in three primary focus areas in this role: closure of the San Francisco juvenile hall, a project that will be finalized in December; the African American Reparations Advisory Committee, a group created by the Board of Supervisors that is assessing what reparations could look like for the city; and the Racial Equity Task Force, which looks at spaces in the city to ensure that people are treated equitably.

For Cunningham, the opportunity to create systemic change is one that he encourages others to join in. “Being formerly incarcerated myself, I love to see those systems of oppression dismantled and destroyed,” Cunningham said. “The one thing I would tell people is that they always have a section in every open meeting to the public where you can make comments. So many people do not take advantage to express their disagreement or support for whatever these committees are doing. The people who are going to be affected by the decisions do have a voice in the process, but we don’t take advantage of it.”

After his fellowship ends next month, Cunningham is looking forward to pursuing his degree in Race and Resistance Studies from SFSU while continuing his work with Rubicon. “Honestly, the degree is great,” Cunningham said. “But as I was going through the first semester, I realized that the degree—the piece of paper—was not really that important to me. Obtaining the knowledge and allowing me to network and be in spaces where I would be effective is what matters.”

As part of the organization’s commitment to supporting staff members’ well-being, Rubicon Programs recently hosted its annual Wellness Fair for employees company-wide. The event took place over three afternoons on October 13-15 and included both online and in-person activities.

Rubicon’s Recruitment and Engagement Specialist Adriana Ponce-Matteucci led the efforts to plan and organize the event, from the initial conceptual stage all the way through hosting the closing activity. “Making time for yourself isn’t selfish or a waste of time, it’s an investment in yourself,” Ponce-Matteucci said. “We get very wrapped up in our work, which is important, but we focus on everything else around us: family, work, kids. It’s also important to say, ‘My health matters’ and to take time to invest in yourself.”

Over 30 live events were scheduled during the course of the Wellness Fair, the most highly attended being the closing event virtual standup show with Comedy Oakland. For the second time in the fair’s nine-year history, some of the events were available in Spanish to be more inclusive of the organization’s diverse workforce. In addition to the live events, participants could schedule one-on-one appointments with vendors from the healthcare, fitness, finance, and insurance industries.

The event was organized by a Wellness Fair Planning Committee made up of eight Rubicon Staff from different departments and locations. The Committee worked together for three months to make sure a variety of activities for all interests and abilities would be available at the event.

Wellness Coach Kellisha Moore decided to join the Committee to help emphasize the value of focusing on wellness. “I think that it is extremely important to prioritize our wellness and cultivate an active mindset of peace,” Moore said.

In addition to attending the Wellness Fair itself, joining the Planning Committee was a way for some staff members to enhance their professional development. WIOA Career Coach Mayra Corral was excited to be offered the opportunity to contribute as a Committee member. “I joined because I wanted to be involved with the organization outside of my role in Rubicon,” Corral said. “I'm a planner and like to plan parties, dinners, and outings outside of work. When I was presented with the opportunity to do it for work, I signed up as soon as I could.”

Ponce-Matteucci is proud of the work that the Planning Committee did to bring the Wellness Fair to the organization while still following COVID-19 safety measures. “Even though the way we have to work has changed, our values and what we want to give to employees didn’t change,” Ponce-Matteucci said. “I think it’s pretty awesome that we could continue the Wellness Fair and find a way to adapt it during some of the most difficult times that some of us have ever experienced.”