Meet Shalom, a 23-year-old San José native with a big heart and even bigger aspirations. He was a Resilience Corps Associate (RCA) with the San José Public Library Foundation (SJPLF) from 2023-2024. Though Shalom is driven and passionate about serving his community, he felt he lacked a clear goal or direction when it came to college and career readiness.
The Resilience Corps is a one-year program designed to build the workforce targeting people just like Shalom who may be looking for support and guidance to get their career started. The Resilience Corps San José provides real-life experience for young adults in the Bay Area to broaden their perspective of job opportunities while also aiding in their personal and professional development. Additionally, being paid a living wage allows Resilience Corps Associates (RCAs) to put all their focus on educational opportunities and preparing for their desired future.
Shalom’s job involves spurring on academic youth development by creating and teaching curriculum for creative and STEAM programs at the Library to prevent learning loss for grade school and high school students. Every week, Shalom was placed at the Evergreen Branch Library where he built a healthy rapport with regular-library-attending families who were intrigued and positively impacted by Shalom and his class. Children would curiously approach his table and ask if they could try whatever he was teaching. Their eyes would light up as they learned how to put an Apple Pencil to iPad and create something in a way that they were not familiar with. These classes became part of a weekly routine for a handful of families who came to the library. Shalom stated that “he really likes the experience of realistically helping out kids,” and being a part of their academic journey. The San José Public Library and the San José Public Library Foundation are proud partners and supporters of fostering this mutually beneficial relationship between RCAs and students who need more educational services and resources. With STEAM at the Library, Shalom worked with children grades 5-12 and taught them valuable technical skills using iPads and Apple programs, driving digital empowerment from the beginnings of education to enable lifelong learning. He taught a wide array of lessons including how to draw animations, make music, and the fundamentals of STEAM which he learned throughout his time in the RCA program.
In addition to the lessons that he taught and the impact he made, Shalom also gained valuable knowledge and connections during his time with the Resilience Corps. Each month, he attended Professional Development workshops hosted by the Resilience Corps which covered career-related topics such as resumé building, personal branding, and interviewing skills. The RCAs were also brought onto corporate campuses and introduced to professionals working in fields that they aspire to enter. This allows for mentorship relations to happen and invaluable networking opportunities with companies in Silicon Valley. As someone with ADHD, Shalom felt seen and encouraged when he met a business professional from a major tech company who had similar struggles. Shalom was inspired by the person’s intelligence and how he preserved regardless of his learning disability. Having been in and worked within the special education system proved to be a foundational part of Shalom’s experience that allowed him the comfortability and desire to grow in his classroom management and teaching skills. Shalom became even more confident and comfortable with teaching amongst the various learning styles and abilities of his students, because of mentors and workshops he attended as an RCA.
Shalom’s goal is to go back to college after the program to support himself and his family using the skills and character development that he mastered throughout his time in the Resilience Corps Program. “As an RCA, I’m really happy to know that I’m making an impact on some people’s lives whether they’re kids, whether they’re my peers, or just in general, people that come across working as an RCA,” says Shalom. The Resilience Corps program has helped give Shalom and many others the tools to be better prepared for the future and reach realistic and informed goals. The Resilience Corps Program seeks out young adults with big hearts and even bigger aspirations who are passionate about personal and professional growth as well as serving the San José youth. Learn more about how to get involved and support Resilience Corps, so more young adults like Shalom can enter the workspace more experienced and more confident than before.