The Future is Working 2023

OCCF’s The Future is Working Giving Day takes place on Thursday, March 23, 2023. This 24-hour collaborative online giving day will support 17 nonprofits that offer programs and services to remove barriers to employment, create pathways to success for vulnerable communities, and build a flexible and resilient workforce.

The 17 participating nonprofits are focused on vocational training, economic self-sufficiency, entrepreneurship, and mentorship – sharing the joint mission of helping make the Orange County workforce more adaptable and resilient. These nonprofits continue to ensure that all residents have a pathway to secure living-wage jobs and the opportunity to fully participate in Orange County’s thriving economy.

In addition to The Future Is Working, OCCF has invested more than $1.6 million since 2019 in a Workforce Development Initiative to ensure an educated and equipped workforce to meet the demand for today’s middle-skills jobs. Funding is supported by the Henry W. & Ellen R. Warne Family Endowment Fund, which was founded at OCCF as a permanent endowment that directs one-third of its grant making to supporting educational institutions in Orange County. OCCF is connecting educational institutions and workforce development programs to in-demand, middle-skills jobs within targeted sectors in Orange County via formalized pipelines. OCCF’s goal is to increase the number of community college students acquiring credentials and certificates who are then placed in middle-skills jobs in Orange County.

Learn more about each of the participating nonprofits:

Bracken’s Kitchen Inc. – Founded in 2013 our mission is simple: Through food rescue, culinary training and our community feeding program we are committed to rescuing, re-purposing, and restoring both food and lives.
Chrysalis – Chrysalis serves people navigating barriers to the workforce by offering a job-readiness program, individualized supportive services, and paid transitional employment. We empower our clients on their pathway to stability, security, and fulfillment in their work and lives.
CIELO – CIELO envisions a day when all hardworking people in under-served communities have the education, resources, and mentorship to start and grow small neighborhood businesses, become successful entrepreneurs, and earn a dignified income on which they can thrive.
Goodwill of Orange County – our mission: to help individuals achieve their goals through a journey of personal support, work experience and career development. We support ALL people in their career journeys, including those with disabilities, mental health diagnoses, justice-involved youth, as well as veterans and their families.
Hart Community Homes – The mission of Hart Community Homes is to heal, educate and empower at-risk youth to become healthy, productive, and self-sufficient adults in the community. With a focus on foster youth and transitional age young adults, the agency provides short-term residential treatment, as well as paid job training and work experience at Monkey Business Café and catering business for emancipating youth.
High School Inc. Academies Foundation – Every dollar goes towards helping High School Inc. empower over 1,500 students each year to discover their potential and align them with their best possible future.
Hub for Integration, Reentry & Employment (H.I.R.E.) – H.I.R.E.’s mission is to maximize the skills and opportunities for formerly incarcerated and system-impacted youth and adults in Orange County through employment, mentorship, and community building. We envision a unified Orange County where gaps in social, political, and economic opportunities are eliminated for formerly incarcerated and system-impacted youth and adults.
Hope Builders – Hope Builders empowers Orange County’s young adults with mentorship, life skills and job skills training to move from poverty to prosperity. Hope Builders believes that career opportunities change lives; it recruits young adults from Orange County’s most vulnerable communities and connects them to employment offering career advancement and a living wage.
I-5 Freedom Network – The i-5 Freedom Network is committed to equipping communities and survivors with the tools to disrupt human trafficking through training, education and advocacy.
Kherut – Kherut empowers survivors of sex trafficking, domestic violence, sexual abuse, imprisonment, and young women aging out of foster care. We provide employment, training, and mentorship leading to long-term career opportunities creating a path towards independence for these women within our social enterprise food services business platform SAVOR – GREAT FOOD. GREATER GOOD.
Project Self-Sufficiency – Project Self-Sufficiency uses a holistic model of providing financial and psychosocial resources to support a path for a successful academic journey toward economic self-reliance. Our suite of services and supports are customized to meet each scholar’s most pressing needs in order to keep them in school and on track to becoming economically self-sufficient. About 80% of PSS Scholars successfully graduate with a degree.
Orange County Academy of Sciences and Arts – The Orange County Academy of Sciences and Arts was founded in 2015 by a group of parents who wanted to improve opportunities for children in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. Our programs are tuition-free and open to all students including Students with Disabilities, Foster Youth, Homeless Youth, Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Youth, and English Learners. We operate two public schools – OCASA Elementary for Kindergarten to 5th-grade students and OCASA College Prep for 6th grade to 12th-grade students.
Oscar & Ma – Oscar & Ma trains people with employment barriers for economically sustainable careers. Through our event management social enterprise, Oscar & Ma provides business training to foster youth, the formerly incarcerated, survivors of domestic violence, and others, providing a pathway to sustainable employment. Programs for employees include personal and professional development, exposure to a business environment, and job placement services.
Step Forward Academy – Step Forward Academy’s flagship Career Development Program is 10 weeks. Our Step Up Program is available for as long as the Mentee needs support to earn a living wage. We call our primary clients “Mentees.” Our Mentees are adults 18+ that are interested in developing a career path to meet a living wage in Orange County. Right now, we are focusing on Orange County but soon will expand to LA and San Diego Counties.
Vital Link – Vital Link provides hands-on, career exploration experiences for high school students, helping them carve out their own unique career path. Together, we can ensure that all students have access to well-paying jobs and bright futures through our career and education exploration events, academies, workshops, leadership summit, competitions, and more.
Working Wardrobes – At Working Wardrobes, we do everything in our power to help jobseekers facing barriers to employment achieve the dignity of work and The Power of a Paycheck™. Specializing in serving Veterans, individuals involved in the justice system, and older adults needing to reenter the workforce, Working Wardrobes offers comprehensive, wrap-around workforce development services, all given with the utmost dignity and respect.
Youth Employment Service of the Harbor Area, Inc. (YES) – YES provides our employment readiness program and services, customized to ensure client learning, with proven success. Together we can ensure Orange County’s students with disabilities are as equally prepared for working life as their peer classmates.