VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION
UNITE-LA held its first Step into Tech Volunteer Orientation last month and were joined by 10 new and returning volunteers from Facebook, Create Music Group, Cisco, Snap, Manufacturers Bank and Acena Consulting. Volunteers learned about the why and who of Step into Tech and were provided a program overview that included volunteer roles and responsibilities. Interested in volunteering? Sign up here.

COHORT 5 LAUNCHED THIS MONTH
Last month, UNITE-LA kicked off the fifth cohort of Step into Tech with an impressive 22 participants, marking our largest cohort yet. UNITE-LA wasted no time and jumped into a vibrant networking session. The session commenced with an engaging and informative overview of networking delivered by our outstanding volunteer, Nick Pyzow. Both our participants and volunteers warmly received the presentation.

Following the insightful presentation, participants had the opportunity to hone their networking skills through speed networking breakout sessions with professionals—a highlight for both participants and volunteers alike. Participants have begun embarking on their journey of career exploration in Computer Networking, delving into their first course offered by the Cisco Networking Academy. Additionally, they had their inaugural 1:1 Mentoring Session.

THANK YOU SPRING 2024 VOLUNTEERS
Here at UNITE-LA, volunteers are an essential part of the success of both our programs as well as our participants. We’d like to take a moment to give a huge shout out to this spring’s Step into Tech volunteers whose support, guidance, and expertise are helping to create a pathway forward and a fair chance for our justice involved/impacted participants. THANK YOU Nick Pyzow (Acena Consulting), Richard Davis, Ira Harrison (IH Communications), Ken Kook (Snap), Rosa Ramirez Martinez (Manufacturer’s Bank), Sirrele Steinfeld (GifCode), Sara Shreve (Cisco), Eric Knudson (Cisco), Jason Hoac (Cisco), Eric Coughenour (Cal Cyber Alliance), Misty Oka (Root & Rebound), Sem Ponnambalam (Xahive) and Joe Marshall (Cisco), Jus Chowdhary (Blizzard Entertainment), Eddie Jauregui (Create Music Group), Christopher Herche (Create Music Group) Monica Teshale (Create Music Group) Lara Lamb (Abacus Wealth), Nikki Cross (Nova Credit), Nick Corral (Facebook) Kristen Narreau (Cisco), Matthew Moor (UNITE-LA), Johana Villa (UNITE-LA), Dominique Rougeau (UNITE-LA), Diana Balbuena (UNITE-LA), and Jenny Vu (UNITE-LA).